


I 



w 



PAST AND PRESENT 

OF 

ISABELLA COUNTY 
MICHIGAN 



BY "^ 

HON. ISAAC A. FANCHER 



I L'L'U S T R A T E D 



1911 
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY 

INDIANAPOLIS. INDIANA 






9 



DEDICATION. 

This work is respectfully dedicated to 

THE PIONEERS, 

long since departed. May the memory of those who laid down their burdens 
by the wayside ever be fragrant as the breath of summer 
flowers, for their toils and sacrifices have made 
Isabella County a garden of sun- 
shine and delights. 






;7> 



PREFACE 



All lite and achievenient is evolutii)n ; present wisdom comes from past 
experience, and present commercial ])rosperity has come only from past exer- 
tion and siifYering. The deeds and motives of the men that have gone liefore 
have heen instrumental in shaping the destinies of later communities and 
states. The de\elupmeni of a new ct)untry was at once a task and a privi- 
lege It required great courage, sacrifice and privation. Compare the pres- 
ent conditions of the people of Isabella county, Michigan, with what they were 
one hundred years ago. From a trackless wilderness and virgin land, it has 
come to be a center of prosperity and civilization, with millions of wealth, 
systems of railways, grand educational institutions, splendid industries and 
immense agricultural and timber productions. Can any thinking person lie 
insensible to the fascination of the study which discloses the aspirations and 
etTorts of the early pioneers who so strongly laid the foundation upon which 
lias been reared the magnificent prosperity of later days? To perpetuate the 
story of these people and to trace and record the social, political and indus- 
trial progress of the community from its first inception is the function of the 
local historian. A sincere purpose to preserve facts and per.sonal memoirs 
that are deserving of perpetuation, and whicli unite the ]iresent to the past, is 
the motive for the present ijublication. The work has been in the hands of 
able writers, who have, after much patient study and researcii. produced here 
the most complete biographical memoirs of Isabella county, Michigan, ever 
ofi'ered to the public. A specially valuable and interesting department is that 
one devoted to the sketches of representative citizens of this county whose 
records deserve preservation because of their worth, effort and accomplish- 
ment. The publishers desire to extend their thanks to the gentlemen who have 
so faithfully labored to this end. Thanks are also due to the citizens of 
Isabella county for the uniform kindness with which they have regarded 
this undertaking and for their many ser\ices rendered in the gaining of neces- 
sary information. 

In placing the "Past and Present of Isabella County. Michigan." before 
the citizens, the publi.shers can conscientiously claim that they have carried 
out the plan as outlined in tlie prospectus. Ever>- biographical sketch in the 
work has been submitted to the party interested, for correction, and there- 
fore anv error of fact, if there be any, is solely due to the person for whom 
the sketch was prepared. Confident that our eiiforts to please will meet the 
approbation of the pul)lic, v e are. 

Respectfully, 

THE PUBLISHERS. 



CONTENTS 



OHAI'TEK 1— TOl'OCatAl'HY AND GEOLOGY OF ISABELLA COrNTY 25 

Course of Rivers and Streams — Drainage — Surface Geoiogy — Geographical | 
Location — Civil Divisions— Topofrrapuical Survey — Kegion in (ieueral — TUe 
Moraines — Terminal Moraines — Tlie Ground Moraine — Tlie \Vasli — Geolofiical 
Conclusions — Contact of tbe Ice Lobes — Lalje Saginaw — River Terraces. 

CHAi'TEu II— Gi:o(;itAriii(Ai- ani> other names 40 

Derivation of County Name- Indian Designations — Eminent I'ulilic Men Com- 
memorateil — Indian Names for Wlilte Men Derived from Traits of Cliaracter 
— Indian Superstitions. 

CHAPTER III— EARLY HISTORY 45 

Lavisli (Irants of Land — Ordinance of ITST — Acts Relative to Michigan — .Vssent 
of the State of Michigan — .\dnnssion of Michigan as a State — Organization of 
the Territory — -Early Governors — First State Constitutional Convention — 
— Boundary Line Misunderstanding — The State Caiiital — Erection of New 
Capitol Building. 

CHAPTER IV— INDIAN TREATIES AND PATENTS 61 

Treaty with the Chippewas of Saginaw, Swan Creek and Blacli River — Amend- 
ments — Indian Land Certlticate — Treaty of 1864 — Contention as to Kind of 
Patents — I-and Entry ('onipli<'ations — .\n .\ttempted Fraud and Us .Vnuulmcnt 
— Indian Industrial School — Congression:il .Vets Relating Tliereto — Growth of 
the Institution — Superintendents — Inilians as Civil War Soldiers — Isabella 
County Indians Industrious. 

CHAPTER V— ORGANIZATION OF ISABELLA COUNTY 83 

Act of the Territorial Council Setting Ott" Isabella County — Sul)se<iuent Acts — 
First Election for County Officers — First .Meeting of Board of Supervisors — 
Their Official Acts — Ix)cation of Oounty Seat — Itemoval of County Seat — 
Census — First County Order. 

CHAPTER VI— EARLY RE.MINISCENCES AND INCIDENTS— 89 

I'ioneer Hardships and Privations — Independence Day Celebrations — First 
Things — Mail Routes and Postoffices — Deternuned to .Marry — First L.-mil Entry 
in Isabella County— Didn't Relish His Bed — Seeking Justice Amid Difficulties 
— Squab Hunting — .V Plucky Woman — The Year 'ill— Notes from an Old-Time 
Diary— .\nother Bright Spot in the Oasis — Early Settlement of Is;ibella County 
— Increase In Population — Reminiscences by Irving E. .Arnold — Early Schools 
— Early Educational Facts. 

CHAPTER VII— EARLY TRANSPORTATION, TA\ EKNS. K()ADS, ETC. 107 

Difficulties of Road Making — Heavy Timber — The First Road — Laying Out 
and Construction of Fir.st Highways — State Aid— L««gislative Enactmeiit.s^ 
Making of Gravel Roads— Early Taverns and Hotels — Mills— First Mill Erected 
by .Tohn Reynolds — Gov»>riiment .Mill— Saw-mills — iJreat Quantities of Timber 
Saweil— Lumber .Mills Disappear— Grist Mills — Gorbam Brothers Company — 
Electric Light Pl:int— Ml. Pleas.int Lluht :ind Fuel Company. 



CONTENTS. 

CHArTKK VIII— COUKTS, BENCH AND BAR 121 

E;irl.v Territorial Laws — The Circuit — Judicial Districts ami Their Boundaries 
— CUanses — The County Seat — The Court Houses— The Bench — Brief Mention 
of the Circuit Judges — Members of the Bar — Personal Mention — The Local Bar 
Noted for the High Order of Its Legal Talent— Probate Judges— Early Cases 
in Circuit Court— First Jury Cas^First Divorce— Interesting Cases in Circuit 
Oourt— The Hursh Case— The Sha\vb(X)se Case — The Williams Case. 

CHAPTKU IX— KAILROADS IN ISABEIJ.A COUNTY 139 

Early Need of Railroads — Flint & Pere Marquette First to Enter County— A 
Boon to Lumbermen — The Ann Arbor Line — The Detroit. Lansing & Northern 
— Branch Roads — The County Now Well SupiJlied With Transportation Facil- 
ities. 

CHAPTER X— EDUCATION IN ISABELLA COUNTY 143 

Paramomit Importance of Education — First School House — Other Early Houses 
and Pioneer Teachers — First Teachers" Institute — Schoul Statistics — First Dis- 
tricts Laid Off— Text-books Used— Mt. Pleasant Schools— First Buildings — 
School Census — Change in School House Site — Election — Erection of Building 
— Growth of Village and Increase iu School Accommodations — Educational Pro- 
visions tor the West Side — The Shepherd School — Mt. Pleas;int High School — 
Course of Study — Conunereial Dei>artment — Manual Training and Domestic 
Science — Mechanical Drawing — Proposed Agricultural Department — (Jraduates 
of Mt. Pleasant High School — Some of the Early School Teachers — The Sacred 
Heart School — Courses of Study — Graduates. 

CHAPTER XI— CENTRAL STATE NORMAL SCHOOL 175 

Necessity of Facilities for Fundamental Education — Formation of Mt. Pleasant 
Improvement Company — Suggestion of the State Normal School, as Told by 
S. W. Hopkins, the First Secretary — Many Difficulties Met and Overcome — Erec- 
tion of Building — A Flourishing School — Appeal to the State — Legislative 
Efforts— Opiwsition — Final Passjige of Bill — The Bill — First Courses of Study 
— Sitecial Purpose, the Preparation of Teachers — Liberal State Appropriations 
— Building Improvements — Schedule of Classes, lltH) — The Summer School — 
Faculty — Extent and Efficiency of Work. 

CHAPTER XII— JOURNALISM 191 

Importance of Local Newspaiiers — The Northern Pioneer — Isabella Enterprise 
— Northwestern Tribune — Mt. Pleasant Times — Mt. Pleasant Democrat — Isa- 
bella County Courier — Central Michigan Times — The Observer — Isabella County 
Republican — Isabella County Herald — Morgan's Watchtower — District School 
Journal — Evolution of the Newspaper Business. 

CHAPTER NIII— BANKS AND BANKING 196 

Rufus Smith the First Banker- — Hicks, Bennett & Company — Webber & Ruel 
— Isabella County State Bank — Dusenbury. Nelson & Company — Exchange 
Savings Bank — Brown, Harris & Company — Commercial Bank — People's Sav- 
ings Bank — Shepherd Banks— Conmiercial State Bank — The Ryan Bank — Rose- 
bush Banking Company — Weidnian Banking Company — Central State Savings 
Bank — Farmers and Merchants' Bank. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAl'TKK XIV— THK MEIHCAI. I'UOi'KSSIOX - 202 

Pliysieiiiiis nn Iniport.-iiit r:ict(ir in Society — Wesley J. ("iirhus. the First I'liysi- 
ci.-in in ls;il>ell.i Cnnnty — otlicr K.-irly iHK-tors— Men of Aliility anil U'lgh Char- 
acter — Brief Mention of Isal)ella Coiiiity Pliysiclans. I'ast ami I'reseut — 
I'reseiit Hosier — Uentislry — Veterinarians. 

rll.M'TKi: XV— CHfRCH HISTOItV 217 

Cluirch History Coincident Witli First Settlement— First Clitircli Huilt for the 
Indian.s — Methiniists l^arly in the Field — Krection and Dedication of First 
I'hnrch -History of M. K. Siniety at Mt. Pleasant— First Sunday School- 
Ministers of this Society — I're.sbyteriiins — A New Chur<-h Krected — Minister.s — 
The Baptist Church — Kpi.'»co|«il I'hurch — Free-will Baptists — Free Methodists 
—Church of (iod — The Kisciples — M. K. Church at Salt Kiver — Other Methodist 
Churche.s — Wesleyan Methodisls — i"nite<i Brethren — .Seventh! >ay .Vdventists — 
Kv:ingelic:il Church — (Jerniaii Lutherans — I'hurch of the Open Itihli' — Holiness 
Church — Evangelical I^utheran Trinity Church — Tile Honierites — Catholic 
SiK-ieties iiud Schools — Christian Science Church — An Indian Prayer — Fni- 
tariau Church. 

CILVPTEK XVI— CIVIC AX1> ItK.VKVOI.EXT .SOCIETIES . 244 

Free and Accepted Slasons — Salt Hiver Lodge No. 388 — Wabou Lwige Xo. 305 — 
Mt. Pleasiiut Chapter Xo. Ill, K. .V. M.— Order of the Eastern St.ir — Cedar 
V.-illey Lodge Xo. 3s:j. F.& A. M. — Masons at Weidiuan — Independent Order of 
Odd I'ellows — Mt. Pleas.-int Lodge Xo. 217— Coe Lodge Xo. 2;!'.>. Salt Kiver- 
Cedar Itidge Lodge Xo. '>4i>. at Wiini — Odd Fellows at Blanchard — Ihiughters 
of Bebekah — Knights of the Maccabees — lijidy Maccabee.s — Cleaners — Gold 
Ue.>ierve Association — Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks — Knights of 
Pythias — Modern Woodmen of America — Xatioual Protective Legion — Court of 
Honor — Knights of Columbus — Isabella County Humane Societ.v. 

CHAPTER XVII— MAXIFACTIKES 263 

Value of Original Forests — Condition of Isabella County in 1.854 — First Saw 
Mill — Water Power — Amount of Lumber Cut and Shipped from Isabella County 
— Timber Floateil on Chipiiewa Kiver — Value of Timber — Much Timber De- 
stroyed by Forest Fires. 

CHAPTER XVIII— AlWtlClLTIKAL INTERESTS 266 

Am Imiiortant Subjec-t — Waste of Soil and Its Effect ou I'osterity — Agriculture 
An Up-Hill Business in the Early Days — The First Clearing iu Isabella County 
— Erectiou of a Pioneer Cabin — Clearing of the Land — First Crops — Lumbering 
— Forest Fires — Early Lack of Transportation Facilities— .\dvent of Railroads 
— Population Statistics — Stalisti<s of F:irms and Farm Products — Values by 
Townships — l'rinci|ial Crops — Live Stock — Cro|is — Dairying Interests — Fences 
on the F.I rm— Maple Sugar and Syrup — Draining — I'.icts and Figures — Boys' 
Corn Club — Prize Winners — The (Jrange — Farmers' Clubs — Farmer.s' Schools — 
Isabella County Agricultur.il Society — Constitution and By-Laws. 

CHAPTER XIX— COIXTV POOR FARM 307 

A Public Xecessity — Early Provisions for the Poor — .Vction of the Bo.ard of 
Supervisors — Purcha.se of a Farm — E.xpeuses for 1910 — Temporary Relief by 
Township Sui)ervisor.s — Present Superintendents. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XX— MILITARY RECORD 310 

Isabella County's I'roud Record — Largest Proportionate Enlistment — Privations 
Endured by Soldiers' Families — Boimties — A Remarkable Record — War Meet- 
ings — Isiibella Enlistments — Woman's Relief Corps — Wa-ba-no Post, Grand 
Army of the Republic — Ralph Ely Post. 

OHAl'TER XXI— NECROLOGICAL RECORD 319 

Early Settlers a Rugged and Hardy Class — First Deaths in the Comity — Brief 
Mention of Prominent Early Settlers Who Have Passed Away. 

CHAPTER XXII— TOWNSHIPS AND VILU4GES 327 

Coe Township — Isabella Township — Chippewa Township^Union Township — 
Fremont Townshij) — Vernon Township — Rollaud Township — Broomtield Town- 
shii> — Coldwater Townshiii — Sherman Township — Gilmore Township — Wise 
Townshii) — Deerfield Towusliii) — Xottawa Township — Denver Township — The 
First Settlers — Cities and Villages — Isabella City — Salt River — Vernon City 
— ■Long\vood — Loomis — Sherman City — Dushville— Blanchard — Winn — Delwin 
— Rosebush — Calkinsville — Elm Grove Addition — Weidman — Beal City — Cald- 
well — Leaton. . 

CHAPTER XXIII— CITY OF MT. PLEASANT 1 343 

Purchase of Original Plat^ — The Morton House — Other Hotels — Beginning of 
Commercial Life — Fire of 1875 — Plats and Additions — Mt. Pleasant Improve- 
ment Company — Early Business Houses— Growth of the City — Old Business 
Firms — Present Commercial Houses — City Official Roster — Improvements — 
Water Supply — Bond Issues — Sidewalks — Public Parks — Municipal Indebt- 
edness. 



HISTORICAL INDEX 



A 

Admission of Michigan 57 

Agricultural Society 205 

Agriculture 2(50 

Ann Arbor Railroad 140 

Arnold, I. K.. Ueminiscences of 101 

B 

Kanks and Banking 196 

Baptist Church 223 

Bar, Meiubers of the 126 

Beal City 342 

Bench and Bar 121 

Bench, The 125 

Benevolent and Protective Order of 

Elks - 258 

Benevolent Societies 244 

Big Salt Kiver 27 

Birth, the First IK) 

Blaiichard 33« 

Bond Issues 377 

Boundary Line. Ohio 52 

Boys' Corn Club 290 

Broonjtield Township 330 

Brown. Harris & Co. 198 

Building a Cabin 268 

Itusincss Houses. Early 348 

C 

Cabin Building 268 

Caldwell 342 

Calkinsville 341 

Capital. State 58 

Capitol. New State 5S 

Catholic Church 235 

Catholic School 171 

Celebrations 89 

Census of County. 1860 87 

Central Michigan Times 193 

Central Sf.ite Normal School 175 

Central State Savings Bank 20<1 

Character of Chippewas 79 

Chippewa Indians, Treaty with 01 



Chippewa River 25 

Chippewa Town.ship 328 

Chippewas. Character of 79 

Cliristlaii Science Church 239 

Church History 217 

Chunh of Cod 226 

Church of tile Open Bible 233 

Circuit Court. First 121 

Circuit Judges 125 

Cities and Villages 335 

City Official Roster 373 

City of Mt. rieasjint 343 

Civic .Societies 244 

Coe Township 327' 

Coldwater River 26 

Coldwater Township 331 

Commercial Bank 199 

Commercial State Bank 200 

Condense«l Milk Company 277 

Constitutional Convention 57 

Contentions as to Patents 74 

Convention, ConstitutioiuU 57 

Corbus, Wesley J. 202 

County Drains 281 

County Officers, First 85 

County I'oor Farm 307 

County Seat 123 

County Seat, Location of 86 

County Seat, Removal of 86 

Course of Study, Normal School 184 

Court Houses 124 

Court of Honor 260 

Crops 275 

D 

I>aiiyiiig Interests 277 

Oaughters of Rebekah 252 

Deertield Township 332 

Delwin 341 

Dentists - 214 

Denver Township 333 

Determined to Marry 91 

Diary. An Old-Tinie 97 

Didnt Relish His Bed.. -— 92 



HISTORICAL INDEX. 



Discii»les Churfh 226 

I)istrk-t School .Tourual ISH 

Districts, Judicial 122 

Domestic Science 155 

Draining 281 

Duseubury, Nelson & Co. 197 

Dushville 339 

E 

Karly Business Houses 34^ 

Early Cases in Court 134 

Early Celebrations 89 

Early Educational Facts 105 

f:arly Hardships 89 

Early History 45 

Early Mail Uoute-s 'M 

Early Physicians 203 

Early KeiuUiiscences ^U 

Early Koads 107 

Early School Teachers 169 

Early Schools 103 

Early Settlement 99 

Early Settlers 100 

Early Taverns 111 

Early Transportation lOT 

Eastern Star 246 

Education in Isabella County 143 

Educational Facts 105 

Electric I.iKht Plant 119 

Elks 258 

Elm Grove 341 

Episcopal (^'hurch 223 

Evangelical Church 2.32 

Evangelical I.uth. Holiness Church__. 233 

Excluinge Savings Bank 197 

F 

Faculty of Normal School 18.8 

Fairs 302 

Farm Statistics 271 

Farmers & Merchants' Bank 201 

Farmers Clubs 293 

Farmers' Schools 295 

Fences 279 

First Birth 90 

First Church 217 

First Circuit Court 121 

First Clearinii 2G7 

J'irst County Officers 85 

First County Order 88 



First Court House 124 

First Divorce Case 135 

First Jury Case 134 

First Land Entry 91 

First Legislature 57 

First Marriage 90 

First Mills 107 

First National Bank, Mt. Pleasant,— 190 

First Physician 202 

First Postoffices 90 

First lioad 107 

First School House 143 

First Settlers 334 

First State Convention 57 

First Teachers' Institute 145 

First Things 90 

Flint kV Pere Marquette Railroad 141 

Free and Acceiited Masons 244 

Free Methodist Church 225 

Free-will Bapti.st Church 225 

Fremont Township 329 

Ci 

(leographical Names 40 

Geology, I.sabella County 25 

German Lutheran Church 233 

Gilmore Township 331 

(ileauers 255 

(iuld Reserve Ass<}ciatiou 257 

(iorhani Brothers 117 

(iovernors. Territorial 56 

• Jraduates of High School 161 

(irand Army of the Republic 316 

(irange 292 

(Jravel Roads 109 

(Jround Moraine 34 

H 

Hicks, Bennett & Co. 196 

High School at Mt. Pleasiint 153 

High School Graduates 161 

Holine.ss Church 233 

Hornerites 234 

Huuiiine ScK'iety 261 

Hunting Squabs 93 

Hursh Case 135 

I 

Improvements 375 

li'debteilness. Municipal 379 



HISTORICAL INDEX. 



Iriili'in'iidi'iicf l>:i.v Ci'li'lmitions 89 

IiKlcpciKltMit Older of (tdit Fellows.- 240 

Iiuliaii Iiulustriiil .School 76 

IiuUaii lyiiiul Certificate G8 

IndiMii Xmiiios 43 

Iiidi.-iii r:ilcMts 74 

Iiidi;m Pniyor 240 

Iiidi.'iM Siipcrstitioiis 44 

Indi.'iu Treaties 61 

ludiistriMl School 70 

Isjihell.i City 335 

IsMliellii County Agricnltunil Society 295 

Isaliella County Courier 193 

Isahella County, <;eolof;y 25 

Isaliella County Herald 194 

Isaliella County Humane Society 261 

Isaliella County. Location 28 

Lsatiella County. Orfjanizatiou of .S3 

Is;iliella Coiuity Uepublican 193 

Isaliella County Soldiers 310 

Isaliell.i County State BanU 197 

Isaliella County. Survey of 2s 

Isabella County. Topography 25 

Is;diella Kullstuients 314 

Isabella Knterprise I'-'l 

Isaliella, Origin of Xauie 4o 

l.snbella Township 327 

J 

.THUriialisiii 191 

.Indies of tile Circuit Court 125 

.ludires of the Probate Court 133 

Judicial Kistricts 122 

•Tury Case, the I'Mrst 134 

.Tiislice .\uiid I ijtlii-iillies 93 

K 

I\iii;.'hls 111' ( 'dlunilius 261 

KuIkIiIs of I'ythias 259 

Kni^'lils iif llie Maccabees 253 

L 

Lake Sagin.-iw .'{8 

Lund Certificate, Indian lis 

Land Entr.v. First 91 

Land (irants 45 

Lawyers, I'ast and Present 12(> 

Leatou 342 

I,egislature. First 57 



Little Salt Uiver 27 

Live Stock 274 

Ix)oation of County Seat 86 

Location of Isjibella County 28 

Longvj-ood 337 

Loomis 337 

Lutiiberiug 263 

Lunilieriug Statistics 264 

M 

.Maccabei'S 253 

.M.iil lioutes 90 

Manu.al Training 155 

Manufacturers 263 

.Maple Sugar and Syrup 280 

Marriage, the First 90 

.M.isonic Order 244 

.Medical Profession 202 

Members of the Bar 126 

.Methodist Kpiscopal Church 217 

.Michigan, .\dniission of 57 

.Michigan Territory Organized 55 

.Military Kecord 310 

.Mills 113 

.Mills. lOarly 107 

.Modern Woodmen of America 260 

.Mor.iin.al Lakes 29 

.Mor.iines 29 

.Morgan's W.itclitower 194 

.Mt. Pleasjint 343 

Mt. Pleasant I>emocrat 192 

.Mt. Pleasant High School 153 

.Ml. Ple.isant Improvement Co 175, 347 

.Mt. Plea.sant Light & Fuel Co 119 

.Ml. Pleasant School Census 147 

.Mt. Plea.siint .Sihools . 145 

.Mt. Ple.isant Times 192 

.Municip.al Indelitedness 379 

X 

Xanies. Origin of 40 

Nalional ProUn-tive Legion 200 

Necrological Kecord 319 

Xoniial School Cour.se of Study 184 

Normal School. F.i.ulty 188 

Normal Sdiool Legislation .- 182 

Normal School, State 175 

Northern Pioni*er 191 

Norlhwestern Tribune 192 

Nollaw.i Townslii|i 332 



HISTORICAL INDEX. 



o 

Observer 1*^3 

Odd Fellows 250 

orticers. First County S5 

OtIifiiU Koster, City 373 

Ohio Bovmdiiry Line 52 

Old-Tiuie Diary 97 

Order of the Eastern Star 246 

Ordinance of 1787 45 

Organization of Isabella County 83 

P 

rarks, Mt. Pleasant 378 

Patents to Indians 74 

People's Savings Bank 199 

Pliysicians. Early 203 

Physicians, Present 206 

Pine Kiver 27 

Plucky Woman 94 

Poor Farm 307 

Postoffices 90 

Prayer, An Indian 240 

Presbyterian Church 219 

Present Court House 124 

Present School Districts 145 

Principal Crops 274 

I'robate Judges 133 

Public Parks 378 

R 

Kailroads in Isabella County 141 

Kcligious History 217 

Ueniarkable Record 313 

Reminiscences 89 

Reminiscences by I. E. Arnold 101 

Removal of County Seat 86 

Roads, Early 107 

Rolland Township 330 

Rosebush 341 

Rosebush Banking Co. 200 

Roster of Physicians 214 

Royal Arch Masons 245 

S 

S;icred Heart School 171 

S.iginaw, Treaty of 122 

Salt River 336 

Saw Mills 263 

School, Central State Normal 175 



School Districts, Present 145 

School House, the First 143 

School Teachers, Early 169 

SchooLs, Early 103 

Schools in Mt. Pleasant 145 

Settlement, Early 99 

Settlers, Early 100 

Settlers, First 334 

Seventh-Day Adventist Church 232 

Shawboose Case 135 

Shepherd School 152 

Sherman City 338 

Sherman Township 331 

Sidewalks 378 

Soldiers" Bounty 311 

Soldiers from Isabella County 310 

Streams and Branches 25 

Squab Hunting 93 

State Capital 58 

State Convention, First 57 

State Normal School 175 

State Roads 109 

Statistics, Agricultural 271 

Sugarmaking, Early 98 

Superstitions, Indian 44 

Surface Geology 27 

Survey of Isabella County 28 

T 

Taverns 111 

Teachers, Early School 169 

Teachers' Institute, First 145 

Terminal Moraines 30 

Territorial Governors 56 

The Bench 125 

The Wash 36 

Timber, Value of 265 

Topogniphy, Isabella County 25 

Town.ship Farm Statistics 272 

Townships 327 

Transportation, Early 107 

Treaties, Indian Gl 

Treaty of 1864 69 

Treaty of Saginaw 122 

Treaty with Chippewa s 61 

U 

I iiidu Township 328 

Unitarian Church 242 

t'nited Brethren Church 2.32 



IIISTIIUUAI. INDEX. 



V WcIiImt .V; liUfl I'JO 

WcidiiiMii 341 

\Vi-i(liii.iii li.-ilikiiiK Co. 200 

Wcslc.v.m .McIIkmH.sI Cliiil-eb 232 

\\liilii»'.vT;iyli)r ("omiiauy 117 

Williimis I'ase i;i5 

W Winn 340 

Wiilk.T Crci'li 20 Wise Township 332 

War Meetings 313 Wonnins Relief Corps 314 

Wilier ,Suni>l.v 375 Woodmen 260 



\<MiioM Cily .■!.'!" 

Vernon Townsliiji .Ti(i 

\'eterinarians 210 

VillaKos 335 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX 



A 

Aliliirtt. Iliinisou G04 

Allen, Cecil W .-.4:{ 

Allen. Ed^'iir \V. . GOO 

Allen, (Jedi-jie II. 4SC 

Allen, riiilii. I'. 4SC 

Allyn. Eugene H. 663 

Anspuusrli. David CIS 

Atkins. Geurge 504 

B 

Biulfrle.v. William 064 

Heacli. Aaron .*^. 667 

Hcltinck. I'eter 569 

Beutler. John 6SG 

Hcettner. .Tohn .5&3 

Bone. Franeis 534 

Bropliy. Wilhert W. 680 

Brown. Erastus 704 

Brown. Xorris. .1. 704 

Brown. Willis E. 702 

Bnikhiironf.'li. .Tohn 016 

Bnckley. Hiinicl 665 

Bnrilick. Orion L. 635 

C 

Cameron. Ernest T. 306 

CaniiiI.ell. Cliarle.s W. 443 

Carnahan. William 428 

Castel. Melvin U. 575 

Castel. William 575 

Chapman. Hubert H. 598 

Cli.-itlerton. Howaril E. 462 

Cliatterlon. .T. E. 460 

cliiinliill. Warner 415 

Clare. .Tosepli 725 

Clark. Alien E. 6.37 

Clark, George T. .559 

Clark, Robert ^<30 

Cliff. James A. 519 

Cocldincton. Charles .502 

Cole. Oeorne W. 480 



V<>l^^. Lewis I). 4!)6 

Co.vne. Daniel 698 

Crotser. Ein.-inuel 555 

Cinlis, .John W. 477 

D 

Damon. .lohn .\. .398 

Davis, Aaron 723 

Davis, James 419 

Dersnah, Bernard E. 4.56 

Devereaux. Michael 447 

I>il.l.le. William L. 5.51 

Dodds. Francis H 403 

Dodds. I'eter F. 464 

Dallett. IJeorfje A 684 

DuBois, Edward 675 

DiiKgan. Edward 643 

Dnu'san. Michael .562 

Dniin. Kobert 677 

Dnsenbiiry. Frank H. 401 

Dusenbury, (Jeorge A. 408 

E 

Edmonds. John H 646 

Ellis. Franklin W. .507 

Estee. Claude H. 683 

Estee. IJuus I>. 715 

Estee. Perry II.. Jr. 601 

Estee. Perry II.. Sr. 589 

Exchange Savings Bank 592 

F 

Fanclier. Isjiac A. 528 

Farner. Ennl D. 706 

Fate. Joseph W. 714 

Ferris. Eli L 417 

l-"erris. George A. 417 

Field. Clark C 624 

I'r.ve. .Sol F 010 

G 

Gorham. .\rwin E 381 

Gorham. Cliester R 4<M) 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 



(JoiiiMiu. Ezra S. 432 

Gould. Charles H. 711 

(iover. George H. 565 

Graham. Joseph A 596 

(Jraham, Thomas 579 

Graham. William H. 579 

Graliam. William J. 669 

Granger, George L. 422 

(irawu, Charles T. 392 

Griiss, Peter 586 

Guy, Charles W. 691 

H 

Hammond, Sylvester C. 487 

Hance. John W. 560 

Harris, Edward O. 394 

Harris, Henry G. 426 

Harris, John A. 728 

Harris, Ralph (J. 463 

Hokemeyer. Christian L 7iil> 

Hopldn.s, Samuel 383 

Hopkins. Samuel W, 383 

Houghton. M. Earl 619 

House. Alfred G. 546 

House. George 489 

House, Henry S. G. .524 

Hou.se, .John G. 484 

Hou.se. Joseph W 479 

Hullinger. William O. 6.56 

Hununell. William 719 

Hyslop, Uobert 690 

J 

Jackman, John 577 

Johnson, (Jilbert .535 

Johnson. Oren W. .536 

Johnston, Hugh D. 516 

Johnston, John Y, 657 

K 

Kane, Michael E. 470 

Kane, Patrick 470 

Keller, J. W. 5.57 

Keller, Michael 557 

Kellogg, Chester A. 440 

Kenned.v, James M. It. 621 

Kennedy, Robert L. 708 

Kinney. Arnold 43.3 

Kinney, John 433 



L 

I.apearl, Tx)nis 547 

Laubenthal, Nicholas 4.82 

Leighton, Charles H. 654 

Leonard, Solomon G. 494 

Leonard, Rev, William 494 

Little, Alfred 591 

Mc 

MacDonald, Uev. A. P. 500 

MacKersie, James 473 

McAllister, Rev. John J. :__ 692 

McCullinn, Willard 710 

McGregor, Thomas A. 539 

McLaehlan, Dan 608 

McMillen, WiuHeld S. 505 

McNamara, Francis 449 

McNamara, Michael 449 

McNerney, John 650 

M 

Marthey, Peter J. 721 

Matthews, Roy D, 403 

Maxwell. William J. 639 

Mead, Lyman F 726 

Menere.v, Martin 454 

Miller, Albert 678 

Miller, Anthony W. 682 

Miller, Harry G. 406 

Miller, Lawrence B. 626 

Milks, Thomas 498 

Miser, George ^. 633 

Miser, Joseph 633 

Moody, Ansel L. 694 

Moody. Clarence E. 527 

Moody, William H. 588 

Moor. David K .567 

Murphy, Emmet A. 491 

Murtha, S. P. 712 

Myers, Irving 697 

N 

Xeelands. Robert 538 

Neff, Jacob 424 

O 

O'Connor, I!ev. Thomas 405 



BIOGUArillCAI. INDF.X. 



P 

I'.i.viu'. I.oiou (". 695 

IVrkiiis, \Vilr;iiii (.'. 581 

I'icrpi'nt. Wilbur N. 563 

Pitts. Ge<irf;e A. 717 

I'lvston. Alliett A. 466 

I'lvston, Willu'i- i;. 466 

I'ulliMi, Cliiiiics 1). 414 

R 

U.iu, Stt'lilieu M. 5-'l! 

Itoberts, H. L. 522 

Uiiliinson, Thomas W. 571 

U(.\\i,i(lfi-. Alfrpil C. 45S 

Itiissell. Charles T. 6SS 

Kussfll. Freil 441 

S 

Sairford, Herbert A 451 

Seymour, Levi 613 

Shaw. B. Coruing 044 

Sheiihertl. Is:iac X. C2S 

Slater. Charles 509 

Smith, James E. 7i>l 

Smith, Oscar 585 

Stevens, Beujamin B. 623 

Stickle. George B. 671 

Struble. Albert G. 603 

Struble. Henr.v .549 

Struble. .Jason H. 549 

Sirulilf. .Joseph A. 475 

Sirulile. Kenneth E. :__ 652 

T 

Ta.vlor. Frank M.. .572 

Tevcns. Joseph 722 



Tiee. Williain .M. 430 

Tilmaiin. Atitlion.v 57t> 

V 
V.iii I..'uven. KlloM J 649 

W 

W.-illiiifT. \Villi;im H. 029 

WalliiiKtoii, Frifi C. . 445 

Walton, Harry K. 659 

Walton. .John 673 

Walton. .John B. 659 

Walton. Terry 660 

Wanlrop, Uobert C. 437 

Warwick. Alfred B. 493 

Wats<m, Hugh 615 

Watson, James 4.53 

Watson, James 523 

Watson. John 517 

Weiilman. John S. 631 

Weller, George E. 647 

Wellman. lieuben 641 

West. .John B. 595 

West. William 511 

Wetzel. Harry M. .544 

Whitehead, Frank B. 410 

Whitehead. William .. 410 

Whitm>y. Xathaiiiel 668 

Wild. Henry 661 

Willie. Eudelmer E. 412 

Wing. Warren 513 

Wood, James E. 606 

Wood. Thomas 541 

Z 

Zugelder. li.-v. Alexander F. 553 



HISTORICAL 



CHAPTPZR I. 

TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF ISABELLA COUNTY. 

The general topography of Isabella county would l)e what is called level, 
witli a general trend downward from the west to the east. This is indicated 
by the course of the rivers and smaller streams flowing through the county. 
The Chippewa river, which is the principal one in the county, enters the west 
line thereof about six miles south of the northwest comer. The upper part 
of the ri\er and before it enters this county is made u]) of two branches, the 
south branch and the north branch. The south branch has its head in the 
Chipi)ewa lake, in ^Mecosta county, in township i6 north, range 8 west, and 
from thence runs in an easterly direction until it intersects the north branch, 
which has its head in the lakes and swamps near Chippewa Station in township 
17 north, range 7 west, and runs thence in a south direction till it joins with 
the south branch and is then the Chippewa. Entering the count}' at Sherman 
Citv. it runs south and some east through Sherman township, leaving the town- 
ship on .section 34: coming back across the line in section t,^. it runs northerly 
about a mile and then takes a south and easterly course, leaving the township 
at the southeast corner. About two miles south of Sherman City it is fed by 
a group of four or five small lakes, from the west, and is also fed at Bundy, 
which is on section 3 in Broomfiekl township, by Indian creek, which also 
comes in from the west. As you come down the river an<l on the west of it, 
there is some considerable rolling land as you leave the river valley and go 
west. There is also some rolling land as you go east from the said valley, 
none of it, however, so steej) or so rough that it can not be utilized as farming 
lands. 

As you enter the township of Deerfield there is something of a rise on 
both sides of the river, but not very abrupt, nor very high. The river runs 
south and some easterlv to where it crosses the section line between sections 



26 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

32 and ^^. about sixty rods south of the north hue. and there it turns to the 
east and a Httle north and goes out of the township on the north half of section 
25, where it enters the township of Union and runs in a northeasterly direction 
through this township and passing through the city of Mt. Pleasant, thence 
north and east, leaving the township of Union and entering the township of 
Chippewa on the southwest corner of section 6 and thence in a general easterly 
course through this township to the east side of the county, leaving the county 
on section 12 of Chippewa. The eastern part of the county along the said 
river and reaching back from the river for a long ways is generallv level, with 
a surface just rolling enough to make it drainable without too much outlay 
of money and labor. Where it makes its most southerly detour in Deerfield 
there is' some quite rolling land, as if the waters had been retarded there and 
afterward had broken through and passed on to the east. 

Tn the northwest portion of the township of Coldwater there is a small 
creek running west to the north branch of the Chippewa, indicating somewhat 
of a dividing ridge and creating a water shed to the west. Then again about 
the middle of the said township several small streams join together and form 
what is known as Walker creek, which flows in a southeasterly course, empty- 
ing into the Coldwater river just above Weidman. Where these creeks form 
and come together it is some rolling, but nothing serious, and it also shows a 
general trend to the southeast. The Coldwater river has its source in Little- 
field lake in sections 17. 18 and 20 of the township of Gilmore and runs thence 
a southerly course to Weidman and then on to the Coldwater lake, through 
that lake on south till it empties into the main Chippewa on section 7 in Deer- 
field. The territory drained by the Coldwater is comparatively a level country. 
The course of the river being so nearly straight, it would seem as if it had 
taken the shortest route possible. As you move on to the east three or four 
miles you encounter the North branch of the Chippewa in Isabella county. 
This stream comes into the county on the north side and on section 5 in Gil- 
more takes a southeast course to the southeast corner of section 24, w*here it 
recei\es the waters of Stevenson's lake and then makes a straight break south 
for the Chippewa, going almost due south for something over twelve miles, 
then turns a little to the east and enters the Chippewa in section 19 in Union. 
All of the territory drained by the branch and its lesser branches is compara- 
tively level and is first class farming land. It only has a gentle slope to the 
south. The only elevations found are on the south side of Stevenson's lake, 
where you can find a few small hills, but nothing to make it objectionable. 
Just north of Stevenson's lake there seems to be somewhat of a di\iding line 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICIIUIAN. 27 

and a small part of the township drains north to the Tobacco river. The 
east part of Vernon, Isabella, and all of Wise and Denver, drain to the east; 
the waters are carried off i)v tlie little creeks and rivers, viz : The Little Salt, 
which arises at or near Loomis and takes a southerly and easterly course to 
where it crosses the railroad at Delwin, when it veers off to the east. This 
river is fed by several small creeks, one of which starts in section 7 in Wise 
and, running a little south nt east, empties into tiie branch. .Nnother, tiie 
Kinney, starting^ in section 1 1 . X'ernon, and running east and south, empties 
into the Salt ; also another commencing" about at section 27 in \'ernon. known 
as the Killenbeck. running almost east to the Salt. Another starting near the 
north line of Isabella township, known as Spring creek, running east to the 
South branch of the Salt : also the Si)uth branch of the Salt, commencing aliout 
a mile north of Whiteville and running east to the Salt; and also one called the 
Jordan, commencing near Whiteville and running east to the Salt : and also 
another known as the Kneft. commencing on section 5, township 14 north, 
range 4 west, and running in a northeasterly direction to the Salt, all of these 
streams running into the S;;lt. All of the country drained l)y these creeks, 
embracing nearly one ciuarter of the county, is a le\el country with \ery little 
rolling or hilly land. It is substantially the same kind of a surfaced country 
drained by the Big Salt which rises in the west part of Lincoln township and 
runs east and north through Shepherd and on to the Chippewa. The countrv 
is some more rolling tlian that north of tlie Chippeua river, but not to make 
it objectionable. 

The only other river of note draining a portion of the county is the Pine. 
This river enters the west line of the couiUy in section 6, township of Rolland. 
and. running nearly due enst about four miles, is there intersected b\- the 
Ponev, which traverses the south half of Broomfield. crossing the south line 
thereof and then runs into the Pine. The Pine then continues in a southeast- 
erly direction to the southeast corner of Rolland. It is fed on its way from 
the west side l)y a creek running through Blanchard and by another, known as 
Skunk creek, which is near the south side of the county. There is also a 
swamp lying south of Winn fed by si)rings: these finally form a creek known 
as the Xorth branch of Pine river. This extends south to the main Pine. 
This part of the county is quite level, except on the west side of Rolland, which 
has some considerable hills. None of these hills are of such a nature as to 
make them worthless for farming purposes and there is scarcely an acre of land 
that can not be utilized for some profitable purpose. 



28 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

SURFACE GEOLOGY OF ISABELLA COUNTY. 
By Faliiim Hmitdii Dmlds. 

Isabella county, ^Michigan, is a tract of land situated approximately be- 
tween eighty-four degrees and thirty-seven minutes and eighty-five degrees and 
four minutes west longitude and forty-three degrees and twenty-seven min- 
utes and fortv-three degrees and forty-eight minutes north latitude. It con- 
tains five hundred and seventy-six sc^uare miles, being twenty-four miles square. 
It is divided into si.xteen townships, each six miles square. Its population 
is twenty-two thousand seven hundred and eighty-four. It may be reached 
by the Ann Arbor and Pere Marquette railroads. 

It is a prosperous farming county, and contains a diversity of soils, from 
boulder clay to coarse sand. The water supply is adequate, the average rain- 
fall being thirty-three to thirty-five inches. The region is drained by the 
Chippewa river and its branches. The ground water level varies from a 
few feet in the eastern part to one hundred and sixty feet below the surface 
in the western part. The region formerly contained some of the best cork 
pine in the state, and still contains some excellent hard wood timber. There 
are extensive deposits of marl around several of the lakes, notably Littlefield's. 

The writer wishes to acknowledge the aid of Prof. R. D. Calkins, of 
the Central State Normal School, and of Mr. Clarence Tripp, in the collection 
of field data and for many helpful suggestions. Mr. Leverett's map of the 
region has also been of great aid as a check, and great care w'as taken in the 
survey of that particular locality, where an interpretation differing from his 
is suggested. 

Work was commenced .August 6, 1906, and the field work was com- 
pleted September i, 1906. The ground was covered for the most part on 
bicycles, though teams were used when necessary. Of course these means of 
conxeyance were supplemented by excursions on foot where there were no 
roads and when it was found to be necessary to cross sections in order to get a 
sufficiently accurate view. The amount of ground necessary to be traveled 
depended, of course, upon the topography and upon the absence or presence of 
standing timber. Therefore where the relief was low and the land clear it 
was not always necessan* to cover the ground so minutely. It seemed neces- 
sary also in many cases to approach a point from two sides in order to inter- 
pret the data correctly, so that in all over nine hundred miles were covered. 

A compass, a clinometer, a soil auger, and an aneroid barometer reading 
to three thousand feet were found necessarv. The accuracv of the barometer 



ISABELLA COL'XTV, MICHU.AN. 29 

was pi"eser\e(l hv fre(|uent c<»ni()aris<)ns witli llie I)arii,t;ra|)li in llie Central State 
Normal School. Although there is m- topographical map of the region, a 
field map was made and data located liy means of sections. It has seemed 
advisahle to locate the special parts here treateil of by means of townsliips 
and sections, though reference has been made in a few cases to well known 
points. 

THE REGION" I.N C.EN"ER.\L. 

Isabella county, situated as it is in the center of the (ircat l.:ikes district. 
presents in detail a small part of the problem of this interesting region. Its 
surface shows very plainly the work of the ice. and in the eastern p.irt the 
shore and bed of the glacial Lake Saginaw stand out distinctly. 

It seems plain that those problems which in\-olve the diieciion of ice 
motion and the relation of the terrace and beach levels cannot be definitely 
worked out without a detailed knowledge of the whole surrounding region, 
so that this report has been made largely descriptive, along with such theory 
as could be workeil out by a study of the county itself. 

It has been impossible always to distinguish between "glacial wash." 
"out wash"' and "river wash." as the three are often blended. 

The relief as well as the height above sea level increases toward the west. 
the eastern part being al)ont seven hundred and sixty feet above sea level, 
while the western moraines reach nine hundred feet abo\e. Hnndx's hill, in 
section 8 of Broomfield. rising to about one thousand three hundred and fifty 
feet above sea level, or four hundred feet above the surrounding country. 

There are many morainal lakes in the county, Coldwater lake, in section 
30, Nottawa. the largest, being about two miles long and one mile in width. 
These are usually surrounded Ijy wash, and drain into the Chippewa system. 

The region has many artesian wells, always on the east side of a 
morainal ridge, which would indicate a general eastern dip of the gravel beds 

It is an interesting economic fact that the change of soil is nearly always 
shown by the condition and size of the farm buildings. On a rich clay soil 
niav be seen a large stone residence, with two large barns, while less than 
half a mile awav is a log shack with a tumble-down stable, the latter farm 
being situated on sandy wash. Moreover, a glance at the maj) will show 
that roads are lacking where the soil is sandy and unproductive. 

THE MORAI.XES. 

The moraines have l^een tlistinguished as terminal and ground, though 
in manv cases the line l)etween them has been drawn onlv after much delibera- 



30 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

tion and in a few instances may be said to be a matter of personal opinion. 
The word "terminal" is used for all moraines where the ice paused long 
enough to leave a ridge or a thick hummocky moraine. The eastern moraines 
are more truly recessional than terminal. 

The general trend of the terminal moraines is nearly north and south. 
There are five of them and, although they are broken by wash plains, they can 
be traced the whole length of the county, with the exception of the ridge at 
the extreme east. 

Accompanying these terminal ridges, and usually parallel to them', there 
are irregular patches of ground moraine. In a few places these are totally 
surrounded by terminal, and some are seemingly in front of the terminal. 
This of course raises the question of ice motion. 

THE TERMINAL MORAINES. 

The moraine farthest toward the east consists of a ridge beginning in 
a hummocky patch in sections 20 and 29, Chippewa, and extending southward 
through sections 28 and 33, Chippewa, and sections 4, 9, 15, 16, 22, 27 and 
35, Coe. It averages about one-fourth mile in width, though it widens to a 
mile or more in several places. It is about twenty feet higher than the sur- 
rounding countiy. It is composed largely of boulder clay, though there is a 
layer of gravel through it. This layer of gravel would seem to be of great 
importance, since east of this ridge and along nearly its whole length there 
are artesian wells, some filling a two-inch pipe. 

This ridge is a true recessional moraine and shows one of the various 
pauses during which the ice thickened the ground moraine and left a ridge. 
North of the end of this ridge, in sections 17 and 18, Chippewa, there is a 
ridge about a mile in length and one-fourth mile wide. It stands alone amid 
the wash plain, and though it is of comparative low relief yet it shows the 
moraine characteristic. 

Directly west of the village of Shepherd, in sections 7 and 8, Coe, and 
section 12, Lincoln, there are three almost parallel ridges which, though lower 
than the main ridge, show very plainly their recessional character. 

The next moraine is much larger. On the north it enters the county in 
sections i and 2, Vernon, and extends south through sections 4, 14, 22. 27 
and ^^, Vernon, 4, 8, 18, 19, 30 and 31, Isabella, 6, 7, 8, 20, 28 and 34, 
Union, and 2, 10, 14, 24 and 25, Lincoln. 

At its northern edge it is fully two miles wide and widens slightly until 
it reaches Isabella, where it narrows rapidly until at the point where the 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHICAN. 3I 

Chippewa river valley cuts across it it is scarcely a halt mile in width. South 
of the Chippewa valley it continues as a narrow, irregular ridge, sometimes 
so low as to be confounded with the surrounding ground moraine, ll widens 
somewhat at its southern end. 

At its northern extremity it is somewhat humniuckw hut does nni lose 
its ridge character. West of section lo, Isabella, the moraine consists of a 
series of parallel ridges gradually growing higher toward the west. It is here 
very difficult to draw the line Ijetween ground and terminal since the terminal 
differs from the ground in degree only. As it enters L'uion it again assumes 
its ridge form and is easily distinguished from the somewhat lower groun<l 
moraine surrounding it. It is composed mostly of boulder clay, though it 
contains some sand and gravel. 

The next moraine toward the west is separated from the second one by 
a belt of wash and ground moraine. At the north it enters the county in 
section i, Gilmore, and extends south to Stevenson's lake, where it is cut 
through by a wash belt. This part of the moraine is distinctly hummocky 
in form and has an irregular series of kettle holes. There are no definite 
ridges. It is here four miles wide and fifty feet high. In sectiim 6, Vernon, 
was found a formation of pleistocene sandstone into which were cemented 
several large striated boulders. The formation is apparently purely local. 

South of the wash Ijelt the moraine continues through sections 26, 2~ and 
33. Gilmore; 4. 9. 16. 20, 27 and 32, Xottawa. and 5. (). 16, 21 and 2^, Deer- 
field. It is cut through by the wash belt in the Chi])pewa valley. This part 
of the moraine gradually assumes the ridge-like character, though it is irreg- 
ular both in width and height. It widens considerably near the wash Ijelt. 

South of the Chippewa valley it widens still more, and in section 2, Fre- 
mont, it divides, one tongue reaching the southern boundary of the county 
through sections 6, 7, 18 and 19, Lincoln, and 2"^ and 36, Fremont. The 
other tongue ends in a wash belt in section 22. Fremont. .\ belt of ground 
moraine separates the two. 

.\bout a mile east of Littlefield lake, in Gilmore, there appears a bit of 
terminal ridge extending from .section 6 southward to .section 2>-- ^^ '^ 
entirely surroumled by wash and bordered on its eastern side by swamp. In 
shape it is an irregular ridge (or succession of ridges) and rises to a consider- 
able height at its southern end. The only southern moraine which would 
seem to correlate with this isolated piece is in section 26, Sherman, five miles 
south. This, though cut by the valley of Indian creek, continues south to the 
edge of the county. In section 26, lunvever. the moraine is composed mostly 



32 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

of clay and is very hummocky. It continues southeast and in section ^2i- 
Deerfield, is separated from the third moraine treated of by the Chippewa 
valley. 

In the northwest corner of section 32, Deerfield, a small tributary of the 
Chippewa in draining a small lake has cut a deep V-shaped valley in the 
moraine, giving it the appearance of high relief. From this point it extends 
southward to section 7, Fremont, where it divides, one part ending in section 
31, Fremont, the other cutting the southern boundary of the county in section 
32 of that township. The material between those two parts has the character 
of ground moraine, though wash predominates in the \alley between. The 
moraine varies in width and height, its width being from one-half to two 
miles. It is impossible to say with certainty whether this rather irregular 
moraine belongs to the moraine toward the east or not. though at one place at 
least it nearly connects with it, there being only a narrow wash l>elt between. 

The moraine, or group of moraines, farthest west presents the most 
interesting data. One patch occupies nearly the whole township of Coldwater 
and extends eastward into sections 9 and 19, Gilmore, and south into sections 
7 and 10, Sherman. How far it extends north into Clare county and west 
into Mecosta county could only roughly be estimated. That part of the 
moraine in this county is ver}' high, being two hundred feet higher than the 
wash in the valleys to the east. It is veiy hummocky in places and in sections 
20 and 29, Coldwater, it assumes the form of ridges. In its southern portion 
in northern Sherman it has much the appearance of high ground moraine, yet 
near its edge it becomes higher and then drops off into a high wash terrace. 

Nearly all the northern and northeastern portions are sandy and the soil 
poor, but near Brinton the soil is clay. From the character and size of this 
moraine it would seem to be more truly terminal than those farther east. 

The Chippewa valley cuts through sections 6, 7 and 17, Sherman, and 
south of this the moraine narrows, scarcely reaching the center of section 28. 
It again narrows, passing through the center of section 31 and gradually rising 
toward the south, till in sections 5, 6. 7 and 8. Broomfield, it reaches its highest 
point, over thirteen hundred feet, in Bundy's hill. 

This is an irregular shaped hill, rising four hundred feet above the wash 
and having thin crests. These crests shape gently to the west and finally die 
out as ground moraine in Mecosta county. The eastern slopes are steeped, 
sometimes twenty and thirty degrees, and have a series of ''foothills" or knobs, 
which do not seem to be entirely the work of erosion, for there are some 
undrained depressions. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 33 

At nearly the liiglicst point tliere is a lx)ulder of granite which measures 
forty feet in circumference and probal^ly weighs twenty tons: tliere are sev- 
eral more, slightly smaller, near it, and others of the same type appear farther 
south. None of these are found in the moraine farther east. 

The hill proper is composed mostly of sand, though there is clay near its 
borders. It sloi)es rapidly down until, in section i6, tlie moraine apjiears as 
a low. narrow ridge, scarcely onc-iialf mile wiili-. h ^liJ^htly widens ,ind dies 
out in section ^6. 

Between this and the ne.xt eastern moraine there apijcar three small, yet 
marked, ridges less than a mile in lengtli : tiiese are separated from the eastern 
moraine by wasii, from the western ground moraine. 

In sections 2 and 11, Sherman, there are two small oval hills. They 
are probably remnants of the large moraine, which ha\e been isolated by 
erosion. 

South of the Bundy moraine, and separated from it at its eastern end by 
the Pine river valley, lies a high moraine whose long a.xis is roughly east and 
west. It occupies sections 31, ^2. t^t,. 34 and t,-^. Broomfield. and is about 
one and one-half miles wide. It slopes down on the south to the Pine river 
valley. It is composed of a series of ridges, though at its eastern end and 
near its base it is quite hummocky. In composition it is clay, though some- 
wiiat mi.xed with sand. Its soil is generally good. It shows many of the 
characteristics of the Bundy and Coldwater moraines. 

South of the Pine river (which is tributary to the Chipi^ewa) another 
high moraine occupies sections 7, 8, 9 and 15. Rolland. It is composed of one 
central ridge, though at its eastern end and along its base it becomes hum- 
mnckv. It slopes rather abruptly down into tiie valley of a tributary of the 
Pine, and on the south side of the valley there appear patches of a lower 
moraine having a ver\- hummocky appearance. 

At the western end of these moraines in Mecosta ccninty the valley Ije- 
tween them disappears and they join and form one. 'I'luis it would appear 
as though the Pine and its tributary had beaded up into a moraine and dis- 
sected it, forming tongues. There is comparatively little wash in those val- 
leys and they present rather young characteristics. 

South of Skunk creek, in sections 34 and 35. Kolland. tliere is a wide 
ridge of moraine, sandy on its northern edge, but good clay near the edge of 
the county. It runs southward for a considerable distance into Montcalm 
county. 

In section 29 there is a small oval hill which seemed marked enough to 
designate as terminal. 
(3) 



34 ■ ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

THE GROUND MORAINE. 

The ground moraine tisually occurs Ijehind the tenninal and next to it. 
In several cases, however, it has been necessary to designate areas which do 
not occupy this regular position as ground moraine. Again it is sometimes 
difficult to distinguish between terminal moraine and ground moraine on the 
one hand, and ground moraine and wash on the other, as sometimes the wash 
is but ground moraine rehandled slightly by running water. 

There is a narrow belt of ground moraine east of the first terminal in Coe. 
Its surface is rather rolling and it is composed largely of boulder clay. It is 
bounded on the east by a veiy marked beach ridge. 

Southeast of Mt. Pleasant there is a belt of ground moraine about four 
and one-half miles wide situated between the two narrow terminal ridges. 
It is cut through near its southern edge by the narrow wash belt of the Salt 
River ^allev. It has a rolling topography and has several small swamps. It 
contains the three small morainal ridges already spoken of. The same belt 
apparently continues north of the Chippewa valley. It takes a northeasterly 
course and leaves the county at the north through sections 4, 5 and 6. Wise. 
It has a rolling topography and is composed of boulder clay. 

South of Mt. Pleasant, and west of the second terminal, there is a belt 
of ground moraine about three miles wide. Towards its southern edge it is 
separated from the second and third terminals by wash. North of the Chip- 
pewa valley this belt continues, though dissected by the North Branch valley- 
In fact, it is entirely cut away from the second terminal north of section i, 
Deerfield. It joins for a short distance north of Stevenson's lake, and leaves 
the county as a narrow belt about a mile wide. It is very irregular and ap- 
parently made more so by the wash belt cutting it lengthwise. 

In sections 11, 12 and i, Deerfield, there is a peculiar ridge about a mile 
and a half long and thirty feet high. Its form is eskar-like, yet at its eastern 
end, in section i, it is composed of boulder clay for about a quarter of a mile. 
Then it assumes a true ridge-like character, though with several irregular off- 
shoots toward the north and west. From here westward it is composed of 
sand and gravel, in many cases beautifully stratified as shown by sections in 
gravel pits. One of these especially showed a distinct dome-like character 
and the stones were rounded by water action. Although this ridge could not 
be called a true eskar, yet it showed the characteristic of a serpentine kame. 

North of Stevenson's lake the ground mtn-aine is quite level, though it is 
clay, even at the surface. In this moraine there are sex'eral tlow ing wells, one 
just north of the lake and several as far south as the Chippewa \alley. 



ISABELLA COLNTV. .MICHIGAN. 35 

Tlie patch of ground moraine in eastern Fremont is a low belt of rolling 
country trashed on either side i)v the tongues of tlie terminals described abo\c. 
Near its southern boundary it is bordered on the west by a wash l)elt. 

In sections 20 and 29, Fremont, there is an oval patch entirely surrounded 
by moraines, though a narrow wasli belt has cut in on the west. It is rather 
rolling, yet it is n(it high nor hummocky enough to l)e classed as terminal. 
Its position is at least unusual. 

In sections i and 12, Rollancl. there is a narrow strip of moraine sloping 
from the terminal on one side to tlie wasli on the other, yet it is composed of 
clay and has a rolling topography. 

Directly east of the lUmdy moraine there is a strip of ground moraine 
five miles long and one wide, which, though bounded on the east by wash, 
would seem to belong to the terminal east of the Bundy terminal. North of 
this the ground moraine does not appear in the county, though it probably 
appears a few miles west in Mecosta. 

\\'est and south of the Bundy moraine there is a wide tract of rolling 
ground moraine which tits snugly against the Bundy moraine on the north 
and the terminal moraine on the south. It is rolling and slightly sandy and 
contains some swamp land. 

South of Blanchard there is a large tract of ground moraine which ex- 
tends back into Mecosta and Montcalm counties. It is somewhat sandv, 
though as a rule the land is good. It is rather rolling, but is lower than the 
terminals on the east. 

It can now readily be seen that the general trend of the moraines is north 
and south; that the terminals increase in height and tlimensions toward the 
west, and that the eastern ground moraines cover a much larger per cent of 
the morainal area than the western ground moraines. It may also be re- 
marked that east of the Chippewa valley the ground moraines are on the east 
side of the terminals, while on the west side of the valley they are on the west 
side. Moreover, the character of the moraines west of the \alley is different 
from that on the east. The western moraines are more sandy and contain 
very large boulders of granite and a quartzite conglomerate which were not 
found east of the valley. 

.Ml the drainage is east or southeast w ith the exception of a small stream 
in northwest Coldwater. The streams have cut valleys across the moraines, 
and in most cases the valley narrows in passing across them. In nearly all 
ca.ses the original trend of the moraine can be readily seen. 



36 ISABELLA COUNTV, MICHIGAN. 

THE WASH. 

As before stated, the term "'wash" has been used for both glacial wash 
and river wash. In some parts of the region they are distinct, in others they 
are so intermingled that any line of separation is impossible. The wash is 
usually more or less stratified sand or rounded gravel. It usually follows the 
river valley, though there are notable exceptions. The swamps have been 
classed as wash, though the large ones have been differentiated. The lake 
bottom, flat in the eastern part, has been classed as wash, for it shows quite 
a depth of sand upon the clay beneath. In many cases the rivers come from 
the moraines in comparatively young valleys and distribute the wash in their 
lower courses. In a few cases, notably in front of the high terraces near 
Weidman, the lower flats are made from rehandled glacial wash. 

Along some of the valleys the glacial wash terraces look much the same 
as the lower river terraces, though their surfaces are much' more uneven than 
tiie river terraces and present the appearance of pitted plains. 

The strip of wash immediately around Littlefield lake consists of low, 
marshy land, and near the lake and somewhat farther south there are extensive 
marl beds. On the east side of the small strip of terminal the wash is some- 
what santly, tlnnigh close to the moraine there are a series of small swamps. 
A narrow strip of wash follows the valley of North Branch eastward and 
combines with the Stevenson's lake wash. 

Directly north of the Coldwater moraine, and fitting snugly against it, 
are a series of high glacial wash terraces. Near the moraine they are very 
little modified by erosion and form a ^•ery good example of a pitted plain. 
Abiiut a mile north of ^^'eidman these are dissected Ijy erosion and from this 
point south nearly to Coldwater lake another lower terrace has been cut from 
the high one. Both terraces are, of course, dissected by erosion, and from 
this point south nearly to Coldwater lake another lower terrace has lieen cut 
from the high one. Both terraces are, of course, dissected by the important 
drainage lines. 

The southern edge of the high terrace swings westward and joins the 
Coldwater moraine close to the Chippewa valley. Remnants of this high 
terrace can be noted in section 6. Nottawa. The land being dissected by 
erosion, it was impossii)le to note any remnants south of Coldwater lake, the 
lake itself being on the same level as Weidman. The lower terrace gradually 
blends into the wash in the Chippewa valley. 

The wash in the valley of the Pine River system seems to be rehandled 
glacial material brought from the dissected moraines toward the west. It is 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 37 

a broad, rather flat valley, containing a good soil. In section i8, Fremont, 
there is a small swamp whose drainage is south through a wash belt into the 
Pine. 

In the valley of the north branch of the Pine there is considerable wash, 
and north of Winn it assumes the character of swamp land. The wash in the 
southern end of the valley is rather sandy. 

Soutii of Stevenson's lake the wash belt narrows and swings through a 
narrow pass into the valley of the north branch of the Chippewa. This 
valley is apparently cut from the ground moraine and the inroads made by 
tributaries in the southern part of the valley show that the work is still in 
progress. How nuich of the terminal moraine on the east has been cut away 
can only lie judged from the e\idence furnished by the existence uf the rem- 
nant on the south end. 

In section 17, Lincoln, there begins a large swam|) whicli drains soulJi- 
warcl. It continues about two miles wide and still appears as markedly swamp 
on the southern edge of the county. 

In the eastern part of Lincoln a l)elt of wash a mile in wultli at its source 
gradually narrows as the ri\'er a])proaches the lake flat. 

At Mt. Pleasant the wash widens rapidly and its southern boundary 
extends east to section 21, Chippewa, then nearly southeast to the southeast 
corner of the county. The northern boundary of the wash is marked only. 
l)v the change from sand to clay, as the till plain is as level here as the wash. 
The line of separation is an irregular line passing through sections 31, 2c;. 21. 
16. 10 and 13. Denver. 

The till plain has been mentioned and it does not seem out of place here 
to continue the discussion. The line of separation from the moraine on the 
west is not at all satisfactory, it being very marked in ])laces and entirely dis- 
appearing in others. In a few places there appears even the semblance 
of a beach ridge, vet it is only local and always dies out within a short dis- 
tance. Yet the till plain is so level and grades .so imperceptibly into the wash 
on the south that it is at least probable that the lake covered this also, at lea.st 
for a time. The flat plain of wash proper is co\ered on top with a sandy loam, 
which varies in deiith from a few inches to several feet. Its surface is almost 
level except where drainage lines have dissected it. 

In section 36, Coe. there appears at the eastern edge of the lake flat a 
low riilge of sand and gravel, which extends along the lake border to section 
21, Chippewa. It has an even crest and slopes with an even angle out into the 
lake flat. In places it has been destroyed by erosion, but it is clearly trace- 
able along the edge of the flat. .'\t its northern end it divides and forms two 



38 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

projections, one behind the other. This would indicate a sort of spit forma- 
tion. Moreover, about a quarter of a mile toward the east there is a low ridge 
running out from the end of the terminal. It is apparently a spit formed 
when the waters of the lake at a slightly higher level were blown as a littoral 
current northward off the end of the moraine and into deeper water, where 
the spit was deposited. Then the waters of the lake fell, due, probably, to 
the shifting of the ice, and the beach ridge was formed, the little spit first, then 
the eastern one. The beach ridge seems at no place to have been a barrier, 
though modifications since may have destroyed the evidence. 

As stated earlier in this report, no attempt has been made to give more 
than a descriptive statement of the surface geology of the region. There are 
a few conclusions which might, however, be suggested. 

It was probably in the western part of the county that the Michigan lobe 
and the Saginaw lobe of the ice siieet came together. Perhaps the only legiti- 
mate evidence of the point of contact is the fact that the Chippewa valley 
separates the moraines by a comparatively wide wash basin, and that west 
of this basin the ground moraines are west of the terminals, while east of the 
valley they are ea.st of the terminals. Moreover, the terminals east and west 
differ in material and in the size and numl)er of the large boulders. The fact 
that the whole valley near Weidman was filleil with high wash sloping eastward 
would tend to indicate wash from the west. Then in many cases the lower 
terraces fit into the uneven edge of the dissected terrace and slope westward. 
There is a probability that the Michigan lobe advanced and deposited the 
western moraine, and that the wash was formed in front and sloped toward 
the east, and that then there was cut and formed a high terrace. Later the 
Saginaw lobe advanced to the position of the terminal east of Weidman and 
its wash sloped away from its front and fitted into the erosion lines of the high 
wash. 

Lake Saginaw was formed when the ice had retreated from the reces- 
sional moraines farthest east, and the water was held betwean the moraine 
and the retreating ice. How far it extended westward at Mt. Pleasant is 
only a matter of conjecture, for the wash from the Chippewa has destroyed 
the ridge if there ever was any. The absence of the Ijeach north of Mt. Pleas- 
ant may be explained by the fact that the lake remained only a short time, and 
that it had washed over very little material is shown by the absence of sand 
on the till plain. 

The question of river terraces and the correlation of levels would be an 
interesting problem, Init would require a careful study of all the surrounding 
rivers and nf the lake shore both north and south. It is probal)le, howe\'er. 



ISABELLA COfNTY, .MICHIGAN. 39 

that the terraces in the valleys correspond to the fluctuations in lake level, 
which were in turn caused by the advance and retreat of the ice. 

It is hoped that the work done in this county will be some small aid in 
the solution of the more general problem of the Great Lake region. 

[7"he above article on the geology of Isabella county is entirely the pro- 
duction of Fabian Bouton Dodds. and to him is to be given all credit for his 
thorough and painstaking labor, as well as Iiis knowledge of the suljject. — 
I. .\. Fa.xciikr.] 



CHAPTER II. 



GEOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER NAMES. 



The geograpliical names in the count}' are not many. The tirst of the 
names was that of the county itself, called Isabella, and is supposed to have 
been named at the time the lands of the county were set apart from the rest 
of the state and given a name by those in authority. The territory comprised 
within the limits of the county being of the best, if not the best, as a whole 
in the state, it would be but natural that they should look about for some good 
person whose name it should bear and when they came to that of the good 
Queen Isabella they cried "Eureka" and named it Isabella. 

The first township organized in the county was that of Coe. This town- 
ship was organized at the time, in 1855. when George A. Coe was lieutenant- 
governor of the state and this township was named after him. the law being- 
approved February 13, 1855. 

In the very early days of Michigan the territory- of the Saginaw valley 
was inhabited by the Chippewa Indians and the river now known by the name 
Chippewa was then, as now, flowing peacefully down to the bay and was a 
highway of travel by the native in his canoe and was known to be a territory 
well stocked with fish as well as inhabited by wild game and the fur animals. 
There are still today many evidences of the habitation of the beaver, and all 
of the old settlers can vouch for the deer, wildcat, hedgehog, mink, marten, 
muskrat : so when the white man came the river had nothing to do but retain 
its old name. There was also the Pine river, named from the fact of its 
running through a wilderness of pine forests. 

The Coldwater river is named from the fact that it is noted for its clear, 
cold spring water as it flows from the lake of that name, which also is a body 
of pure, ice-cold water and was formerly bordered by dense cedar swamps, 
which in this country are a sure index of pure, cold water. 

Chippewa township was set up October 12, 1858, and was named after the 
river, which crosses the town from west to east. 

Isabella township was set up in 1857 and was named after the county, 
and in its first organization was nearly co-extensive with the county boun- 
daries. 



ISABELLA COLNTV. MICHIGAN. 4I 

Union township was organized in 1861. when tlie clund ot disrnption of 
the union of states were rising in the east, and the patriotism of the lx)ard of 
supervisors rose to the occasion and the new organization was named L'nion. 
which, under the circumstances, was a most sensible and patriotic tiling to do. 

Fremont township was given Hfe and \igor in i8<)3 and was named after 
Gen. Jolni C. Fremont : and at the same session of the board of supervisors 
the townsliip of Lincoln was organized and named after the then President 
of the United States. .Abraham Lincoln. It was at a time when every eye 
and thought was turned toward the great struggle then going on between tlie 
North and the Soutii, and these great men were constantly before the people. 

\'ernon was set apart in June. 1866. and its name is supposed to liave 
been suggested by some one who had settled there from tiie town of Vernon 
in the more southern portion of the state. 

In October of tiie same year Rolland was organized and named Rcilland. 
but why we are uninformed. 

Broomfield was set apart in Marcli. 1868, and was named after one of 
its oldest and most respected settlers, William Broomfield. We are pleased 
to note that the old gentleman is still with us and has been permitted to enjoy 
the respect and esteem of his friends and neighbors for these nianv vears. 

Coklwater was given life the same day that Broomfield township was and 
was named after the lake of that name. 

Gihnore, which is township 16 north, range 5 west, was organized in 
1870 and was named after .\dmiral Gihnore. 

^\'ise township, organized in January, 1872, was named after George W. 
Wise, one of the first settlers and one who contributed very nnich in an early 
day toward the development of that section of the county. 

Sherman was brought to life and light in October, 1868, and was named 
after the great general of that name. 

Deerfield was set up in 187') and some of tiie Indians claim that its name 
was given it on account of the fact that it used to be a great runway for deer 
and, in fact, it is general! v known that it was a wonderful field for tlie beautiful 
animal. 

Xottawav was erected in 1875 '"i'' ^^'"^^ named after the old Chief Xot- 
to-way, who, after the Indians had laid by their roving habits, had settled in 
that town and became one of its citizens. 

Denver township was the last to be organized, which was accomplished 
in Januar}-, 1876, the centennial year, and it is said that it derived its name 
from some one who had l)een or lived in Den\er, Colorado. 

Salt river, in the southeast part of the county, is said to derive its name 



42 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

from the fact that there used to he some deer-hcks on the upper portion, places 
where the deer used to go to get their salt, and some say that that is the place 
that the lesser politician migrates to when he can't lick salt in the ])arty any 
longer. 

There are the Little and Big Salt rivers in the northeast portion of the 
county, hut whether they derive their names from any such source or not we 
are uninformed. 

The Littlefield lake derived its name from a Mr. Littlefield who some 
years ago was interested in a large tract of pine timber located in that vicinity. 
He was a native of New York and was considered at one time one of the 
foremost men of his section of the state. 

Stevenson's lake derived its name from an English gentleman who came 
to this state and county for the purpose of securing a tract of pine timher that 
he might bu_\-. cut, run to Saginaw, cut it for shipment or ship the logs to 
England and there cut and build a castle for himself out of that native timber 
of Michigan. He bought and cut the timber here, but was unable at that 
time to get it down the north branch of the Chippewa and afterward aban- 
doned the project, but the lake still bears his name. 

Aside from geographical names, there are others that will probably inter- 
est some at least. Among the first of the settlers that came to Mt. Pleasant 
and vicinity were several for whom the Indians carved out a name signifying 
some peculiar trait of character possessed Iiy them and thev expressed it in 
their own language as follows: Judge William H. Nelson, who was also a 
hotel keeper at Isabella City, they called Mack-saw-gay, meaning "a big bird." 

The Rev. George Bradley, who was their missionary preacher for several 
years and one that did a good deal for their benefit, they called Mack-tay-quo- 
me-ya. 

Francis S. Babbitt, the man that sold them goods for many years at 
Isabella City in an early da}- of their settlement here, they called Ah-gach-go- 
daw-gaw, being "sharp voice." he having a fine, clear voice. 

Cass Mosher, who was the son of Nelson Mosher, the first lawyer to 
settle in the county, they called Mo-she-zhismh, meaning "young Mosher." 

One of the first settlers in the west part of the township of Union was 
A. M. Merrill, who cut liis way through the wilderness and made him and his 
family a home and who was one of the very early men of affairs in the county ; 
him they called Ah-gah-che-go-daw-gaw, which, in plain English, means 
"little head." Phil Gruett, one of the oracles of the tribe and one who had 
as extensive and perfect knowledge of the Indians and of their names and 
ancestors as anv one of the tribes, thev called Mu-sob. 



ISABELLA COL'NTV. MU IIICAX. 43 

Josei)h Bradley, another of tlie Ijright ones antl who is al tlie present 
time unearthing some of the lapses of tlie government in regard to their pay- 
ments to the Indians under the treaties and who is getting considerahle of that 
money for his i)eople, they call Kak-kak-naw-hay. 

Gay-bos-se-gay, or Dan Covert, or Dan Sunshine. tiic\' c;dl on account of 
his brightness of countenance, bright sunshine : and l)y the way he was a sharp- 
shooter ill the wai- of the Kclicllinu and mm ilu- right side, as he enlisted from 
Isabella county. 

Pay-baw-mash was one of the good Indians and one w iio accompanied 
the writer on many of his joinmeys in the woods while surveying lands and 
locating state roads, one of the reliable ones; they called him. in English. 
Alonzo Barrows. 

Shaw-shaw-wan-ne-beece. the great chief. of the whole tribe, was called. 
in English. Green Bird. .\nd surely he was a most powerful and elocpient 
man as well as a great orator. 

O-saw-waw-bon, interpreted into Juiglish. is Gall. 

John Irons was Xaw-gaw-nway-we-dung in Indian. 

John Collins was Maw-che-che-won. and William .^mitli is Xin-keens. 

Charles Kodd. who was for some time United States government inter- 
])reter in Isabella and was interpreter at the time of the treaty of 1864, was, 
in Indian, She-she-bons, which means ■"little duck," and Thomas Chattield. 
who was an Indian doctor, was .Sha\-l)o-nay-be. 

These Indians used to have their yearly feast, when they wouUl all get 
together and have the best there was and go through their religious rites. 
They have a Great leather, called by them W'in-do-go, meaning a "giant" or 
'"big man." At these meetings was the time when every Indian donned his best 
and most costly wearing apparel. They washed up as best they could, just 
as white folks do about Easter time, and if they had anything good or costly 
or nice they had it on. as they expected that \\in-do-go might come at any 
time and was sure to come some time. Where they got this no one knows; 
it has been handed down to them from time out of mind. 

Shaw-shaw-wan-ne bcece many years ago told Phil (iruet that the L'nited 
States government had borrowed of these Indians some fifty thousand dollars 
and had never jiaid liut twd ;nnuiities of that amount, and that the balance 
was now due to this tribe. 

Quo-c|uo-cum-a-gaw means "broken stick." 

Pork, in Indian, is Ko-kosk, but one old gentleman who used to trade 
with them a considerable always insisted on calling it Coc-koo-se. 

Cold water is interpreted as Chic-sin-nah-bish. 



44 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

These Indians also have their superstitions, hke most Indians and some 
white folk. We remember being with a party of them in the woods over in 
Mecosta county on a survey when a certain one of the Indians lay down on 
the ground at his bed time and. as usual with most of the Indians, he lit his 
pipe for his last smoke of the day and proceeded to take his sleep, but in his 
dreams he was aroused and when fully awake found that the camp was quiet, 
so he thought he would take another smoke, so reached over on a root where 
he had last laid his pipe and it was not there. He arose, lighted a torch and 
proceeded to hunt for the lost pipe, but it could nowhere be found, so he lay 
down for another nap. When he awoke in the morning the first thing he 
thought of was his pipe; he put out his hand to the root where he had laid it 
the night before and, lo and behold, there it was, but to his surprise it was 
warm. Finding it in this condition, he immediately assumed that some wild 
Indian had borrowed his pipe, taken a smoke after he had searched for it and 
had laid down and fallen asleep, and had returned and laid his pipe in the 
place where he had first placed it. AA'hile the camp was at breakfast, cooking 
and eating our broiled ham and crackers, there appeared to be some commo- 
tion among the Indians and on inquiry we discovered what had happened. 
The Indian had been looking for the track of the wild Indian and had found 
what appeared to him to be that of the track or footprint of some giant wild 
Indian, and they all took up the story and trouble was in the air. 

^Ve finished our meal as soon as convenient and packed and started for 
the east toward home. Noon came and we desired to send two of the Indians 
for water some distance south of our camp, but no Indian could be prevailed 
on to leave the camp, so all had to don their loads and march south about a 
mile to water. The march was kept up all the afternoon and by night time 
we had crossed the county line into Isabella, and then the Indians were relieved. 

At another time John Irons' family, who lived just west of the now 
Indian School farm, had laid down a walk of bark leading to the spring where 
thev got their water for culinary purposes, and evidently the wind had scat- 
tered the bark, but the family laid it to evil spirits and for a long time could 
not be prevailed on to replace them and obtain their water from the spring. 
After a long time it wore away, the scare was remo\ed and the water again 
sought, as of former times. 



CHAPTER III. 



EARLY HISTORY. 



It is amusing and also instructive tn Imik back over the distant past and 
see liow la\ish tlie people of this country and tliose assuming authority were 
with tlie broad acres of this, then an unknown wilderness. On October 1 1 , 
1 6 14. the Xew Xetherlands were granted to the Amsterdam Company, em- 
bracing all of the territory between latitude forty and fifty degrees, and extend- 
ing from sea to sea. In 1620, not to be outdone, a great patent was granted 
to the Plymouth Company, extending from the fortieth to the forty-eighth 
degree north latitude and extending from ocean to ocean. 

In 1628 came the Endicott grant, extending from three miles south of 
the Charles ri\er t<> tiiree miles north of the Merrimac river and from ocean 
to ocean. 

Then, in 1784, N'irginia ceded to the general government all her territor)- 
from forty-one degrees north latitude south to the Ohio ri\er. 

In 1785 Massachusetts ceded to the general government her western ter- 
ritory, lying l>etween parallels forty-two degrees two miinites and one second 
and forty-three degrees and thirty minutes: and in 1786 Connecticut ceded 
to the general government the territory between degrees forty-one and forty- 
two and two minutes. 

Following these cessions, the general go\ernment, on the 27,(1 day rif July. 
1787, passed the following ordinance : 

Ordin.\nce of 1787, 
For the Government of the Territory of the U.nited States North- 
west OF THE River Ohio. 

1. Be it ordained by the United States, in Congress assembled, that the 
said territory, for the purpose of temporary government, be one district, su!)- 
ject. however, to be divided into two districts, as future circumstances may. 
in the opinion of Congress, make it expedient. 

2. Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, that the estates both of 
resident and non-resident proprietors in the said territory, dying intestate. 



46 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

shall descend and be distributed among: their children, and the descendants of 
a deceased child, in equal parts ; the descendants of deceased child or grand- 
child to take a share of their deceased parent in equal parts among them ; and 
where there shall be no children or descendants, then in equal parts to the next 
of kin in equal degree; and among collaterals, the children of a deceased 
brother or sister of the intestate shall have, in equal parts among them, their 
deceased parent's share : and there shall, in no case, be a distinction between 
kindred of the whole and half blood; saving, in all cases, to the widow of the 
intestate her third part of the real estate for life, and one-third part of the 
personal estate; and this law relative to descendants and dower shall remain 
in full force until altered by the legislature of the district. And until the gov- 
ernor and judges shall adopt laws, as hereinafter mentioned, estates in the 
said territory may be devised or bequeathed by wills in writing, signed and 
sealed by him or her in whom the estate may be (being of full age), and 
attested by three witnesses ; and real estate may be conveyed by lease and 
release, or bargain and sale, signed, sealed and delivered by the person, being 
of full age. in whom the estate may be, and attested by two witnesses, pro- 
vided such wills be duly proved, such conveyances be acknowledged, or the 
execution thereof be duly proved, and be recorded within one year after proper 
magistrates, courts and registers shall be appointed for that purpose; and 
personal property may be transferred by delivery, saving, however, to the 
French and Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers of the Kaskaskias, Vin- 
cents, and the neighboring villages, who have heretofore professed themselves 
citizens of Virginia, their laws and customs now in force among them relative 
to the descent and conveyance of properties. 

3. Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, that there shall be appointed, 
from time to time, by Congress, a governor, whose commission shall continue 
in force for the term of three years, unless sooner revoked by Congress ; he 
shall reside in the district, and have a freehold estate therein in one thousand 
acres of land, while in the exercise of his ofifice. 

4. There shall be appointed from time to time, by Congress, a secretary, 
whose commission shall continue in force for four years, unless sooner re- 
voked; he shall reside in the district, and have a freehold estate therein in 
five hundred acres of land, while in the exercise of his office. It shall lie his 
duty to keep and preserve the acts and laws passed by the Legislature, and 
the public records of the district, and the proceedings of the governor in his 
executive department ; and transmit authentic copies of such acts and pro- 
ceedings every six months to the secretary of Congress. There shall also be 
appointed a court, to consist of three judges, any two of whom to form a court. 



ISAUKI.I.A COUXTV. MRllK.AN. 47 

wlio sliall lia\c a cuinmoii law jurisdictii m, and resiilc in llii.- district, ami have 
each therein a freelmld estate in the hundred acres of land while in the exer- 
cise of their offices: and their commissions shall continue in force din-iiig good 
behavior. 

5. The <i()\ernor and judges, or a majority of them, shall ailn])! and 
piiblisii in the district such laws of the original States, criminal and ci\il. as 
may be necessary and best suited to tiie circumstances of the district, and 
report them to Congress from time to time : which laws shall be in force in 
the district initil the organization of the General Assembly therein, unless 
disai)|>ro\ed of by Congress: but afterwards the Legislature sh;ill ha\e 
authority to alter them as they shall think lit. 

T). 'i'he governor, for the time being, shall be commander-in-chief of 
the militia. ;ii)point and commission all officers in the same below the rank of 
general ofiicers; all general officers shall be appointed and commissioned by 
Congress. 

7. Pre\ions to the organization of the (jencral Assembly the governor 
shall appoint such magistrates and other civil officers in each county or town- 
ship as he shall find necessary for the preservation of the peace and good order 
in the same, .\fter the General Assembly shall be organized the powers and 
duties of the magistrates and other ci\-il officers shall be regulated and defined 
by the said Assembly: but all magistrates and other civil officers, not herein 
otherwi.se directed, shall, diu-ing the continuance of this teiuporary govern- 
luent. be ai)pointed by tho governor. 

iS. Vov the pre\'eution of crimes and injiu'ies. the laws to be adopted 
or made shall have force in all parts of the district, and for the execution of 
process, criminal anil civil, the governor shall make proper divisions thereof: 
and he shall proceed from time to time, as circuni.stances may require, to lay 
out the parts of the district in which the Indian titles shall have been extin- 
guished, into Counties and townships, subject, howe\'er, to such alterations as 
may thereafter be made by the Legislature. 

9. As soon as there shall be live thousand free luale inhabitants of full 
age in the district, upon giving proof thereof to the governor, they shall receive 
authority, with time and place, to elect representatives from their counties or 
townships to represent them in the General .Vssembly : provided, that for e\ery 
five hundred free male inhabitants tiiere shall be one representative, and so on 
progressively with the uumlier of free male inhabitants shall the right of rep- 
resentation increase until the number of representatives shall amount to twenty- 
five, after which the number and pro]iortion of representatives shall be regu- 
lated by the Legislatme : provided, that no person be eligible or (|ualitied to 



48 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

act as a representative unless he shall have been a citizen of one of the United 
States three years, and be a resident in the district, or unless he shall have 
resided in the district three years, and in either case shall likewise hold in his 
own right, in fee simple, two hundred acres of land in the same : provided 
also, that a freehold in fifty acres of land in the district, having been a citizen 
of one of the states, and being resident in the district, or the like freehold 
and two years' residence in the district, shall be necessary to qualify a man as 
an elector of a representative. 

10. The representative thus elected shall serve for the term of two years, 
and in case of the death of a representative, or remo\al from ofiice, the gov- 
ernor shall issue a writ to the county or township for which he was a member, 
to elect another in his stead, to serve for the residue of the term. 

1 1. The General Assembly, or Legislature, shall consist of the governor, 
legislative council and a house of representatives. The legislative council 
shall consist of five members, to continue in office five years, unless sooner 
removed by Congress ; any three of whom to be quorum. And tiie members 
of the council shall be nominated and appointed in the following manner, to 
wit : As soon as representatives shall be elected, the governor shall appoint 
a time and place for them to meet together, and when met they shall nominate 
ten persons, residents in the district, and each possessed of a freehold in five 
hundred acres of land, and return their names to Congress ; five of wiiom Con- 
gress shall appoint and commission to serve as aforesaid: and wiienever a 
vacancy shall happen in the council, by death or removal from ofifice, the 
house of representatives shall nominate two persons, qualified as aforesaid, 
for each vacancy, and return their names to Congress ; one of whom Congress 
shall appoint and commission for the residue of the term. And every five 
years, four months at least before the expiration of the time of ser\-ice of the 
members of council, the said house shall nominate ten persons, qualified as 
aforesaid, and return their names to Congress ; five of whom Congress shall 
appoint and commission to serve as members of the council for five years, 
unless sooner removed. And the governor, legislative council and house of 
representatives shall have authority to make laws, in all cases, for the good 
government of the district, not repugnant to the principles and articles in this 
ordinance established and declared; and all bills, having passed by a majority 
in the house, and by a majority in the council, shall lie referred to the gov- 
ernor for his assent ; but no bill or legislative act whatever shall be of any 
force without his assent ; the governor shall have power to convene, prorogue 
and dissolve the General Assembly when in his opinion it shall be expedient. 

12. The go\ernor, judges, legislative council, secretary and such other 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 49 

officers as Congress shall appoint in the district shall take an oath or affirma- 
tion of fidelity and of office; the governor before the president of Congress, 
and all other officers before the governor. As soon as a Legislature shall be 
formed in the district, the council and liouse assembled, in one room, shall 
have authority, by joint ballot, to elect a delegate to Congress, who shall have 
a seat in Congress, with a right of debating, but not of voting, during tiiis 
temporary government. 

13. And for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious 
liberty, which form the basis whereon these republics, tlieir laws and their 
constitutions are erected; to fi.x and establish those principles as the basis of 
all laws, constitutions and governments, which forever hereafter shall be 
formed in the said territory; to provide also for the establishment of states, 
and permanent governments therein, and for tiieir admission to a share in the 
federal councils, on an equal footing with the original states, at as early 
periods as may be consistent with the general interest. 

14. It is hereby ordained and declared, by the authority aforesaid, tliat 
the following articles shall be considered as articles of compact between the 
original, and the people and states in the said territory, and forever remain 
unalterable, unless by common consent, to wit : 

ARTICLE I. 

Xo person, demeaning himself in peaceable and orderly manner, shall 
ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments 
in the said territory. 

.\RTICLE II. 

The inhabitants of the said territory shall always be entitled to tlie ben- 
efits of tlie writ of haljeas corpus and trial by jury; of a proportionate repre- 
sentation of the i)eople in the Legislature, and of judicial [)roceedings accord- 
ing to the course of the common law. 

All persons shall be bailable, unless for capital offenses where the proof 
shall be evident or the presumption great. .Ml fines shall be moderate, and 
no cruel or unusual punishment shall be inflicted. Xo man shall be deprived 
of his li!)erty or proi)erty but by the judgment of his peers or the law of the 
land: and should the public exigencies make it necessary, for the common 
preservation, to take any person's property, or to demand his particular .-serv- 
ices, full com[>ensation shall l>e made for the same. And in the just preserva- 
tion of rights and property, it is understood and declared that no law ought 
(4) 



.50 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

ever to be made, or have force in the said territory, that shall in any manner 
whatever interfere with or afifect private contracts or engagements, bona fide 
and without fraud previously formed. 

ARTICLE III. 

Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government 
and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall for- 
ever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be obseiwed toward 
the Indians ; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without 
their consent, and in their property, rights and liberty they shall never be 
invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars, authorized by Congress; 
but laws founded in justice and humanity shall, from time to time, be made, 
for preventing wrongs being done them and for preserving peace and friend- 
ship with them. 

ARTICLE IV. 

The said territory, and the states which may be founded therein, shall 
forever remain a part of this confederacy of the United States of America, 
subject to the articles of confederation, and to such alteration therein as shall 
be constitutionally made, and to all the acts and ordinances of the United 
States in Congress assembled, conformable thereto. The inhabitants and 
settlers in the said territory shall be subject to pay a part of the federal debts, 
contracted or to be contracted, and a proportional part of the expenses of gov- 
ernment, to be apportioned on them by Congress according to the same com- 
mon rule and measure by which apportionments thereof shall be made on the 
other states ; and the taxes for paying their proportion shall be laid and levied 
by the authority and direction of the Legislatures of the district or districts, 
or new states, as in the original states, within the time agreed upon by the 
United States in Congress assembled. The Legislatures of those districts or 
new states shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the 
United States in Congress assembled, nor with any regulations Congress may 
find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers. 
No tax shall be imposed on lands, the property of the United States ; and in 
no case shall non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than residents. The 
navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carry- 
ing places between the same, shall be common highways and forever free, as 
well to the inhabitants of the said territory as to the citizens of the United 
States and those of any other state that may be admitted into the confederacy, 
without any tax, impost or duty therefor. 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICIIIGAK. 



ARTICLE V. 



There shall he formed in the said territory not less than three, nor more 
than five, states ; and the boundaries of the states, as soon as Virginia shall 
alter her act of cession, and consent to the same, sliall become fixed and estab- 
lished as follows, to wit: The western state in tlic said ifrritury shall l)e 
Ix)nnded liy the Mississippi, the Ohio and Wabash ri\ers, a direct line 
drawn for the Wabash and Post Vincents, due north to the territorial line 
between the United States and Canada : and by the said territorial line to the 
Lake of the \\'oods and the Mississippi. The middle state shall be l)ounded 
by the said direct line, the W'aljash from Post Vincents to the Ohio, by the 
Ohio, by a direct line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami, to 
the said territorial line, and by the said territorial line. The eastern state 
shall be bounded by the last-mentioned direct line, the Ohio. Pennsylvania 
and the said territorial line: provided, however, and it is further understood 
and declared, that the boundaries of these three states shall be sul)ject so far 
to be altered that if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient, they shall have 
authoritv to form one or two states in that part of the said territory which lies 
north of an cast and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme 
of Lake Michigan. And whenever any of the said states shall have sixty 
thousand free inhabitants therein, such state sli;dl be ;idniittcd. bv its dele- 
gates, into the Congress of the United States, on an ecjual footing with the 
original states in all respects whatever, and shall be at liberty to form a per- 
manent constitution and state government. Provided, the constitution and 
government so to be formed shall be republican and in conformity to the i)rin- 
ciples contained in these articles ; and. so far as it can be consistent with the 
general interest of the confederacy, such admission shall be allowed at an 
earlier period, and when there may be a less number of free inhabitants in the 
state than sixty thousand. 

ARTICLE vi. 

There shall be neither sia\ery nor inxoluntaiy servitude in the said terri- 
torv. otherwise than in the piinisliment of crimes, whereof the party shall 
have l)een duly convicted; ])rovided always, that any person escaping into the 
srune, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original 
states, such fugitive may lie lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person 
claiming his or her labor or service, as aforesaid. 

Be it ordained bv the authority aforesaid, that the resolutions of the 
twenty-third of April, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four, relative 



52 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

to the subject of this ordinance, be and the same are hereljy repealed and 
declared null and void. 

Done by the United States in Congress assembled, the thirteenth day of 
July, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, 
and of their sovereignty and independence the twelfth. 

William Grayson, Chairman. 

Charles Thompson, Secretary. 

ACTS REL.\TIVE TO MICHIGAN. 

An act to establish the northern boundary line of the state of Ohio, and 
to provide for the admission of the state of Michigan into the union, upon the 
conditions therein expressed. 

section I. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America, in Congress assembled, that the northern boundary line 
of tlie state of Ohio shall be established at, and shall be a direct line drawn 
from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan to the most northerly cape of 
the Maumee (Miami) bay, after that line, so drawn, shall intersect the eastern 
boundary line of the state of Indiana and from the said north cape of the said 
bay northeast to boundary line Ijetween the United States and the province 
of Upper Canada, in Lake Erie : and thence with the said last-mentioned line 
to its intersection with the western line of the state of Pennsylvania. 

section II. 

.Vnd be it further enacted, tliat the constitution and state go\-ernment 
which the people of Michigan have formed for themselves be. and the same is 
hereby accepted, ratified and confirmed ; and that the said state of Michigan 
shall be. and is hereby declared to be one of the United States of America, 
and is hereby admitted into the union upon an equal footing with the original 
states in all respects whatever ; provided always, and this admission is upon 
the express condition, that the said state shall consist of and ha\e jurisdiction 
over all the territory included within the following boundaries, and over none 
other, to-wit : Beginning at the point where the above-described northern 
boundary of the state of Ohio intersects the eastern boundary of Indiana, and 
running thence with the said boundary line of Ohio, as described in the first 
section of this act, until it intersects the boundan' line lietween the United 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MK'HIGAX. 53 

States and Canada, in Lake Erie ; thence, with the said Ixjundary line between 
the United States and Canada, throng^h the Detroit river. Lake Huron and 
Lake Superior: tlience in a direct hue thmugh Lake Superior to the nioutli of 
the Montreal river; thence throufjh tlie middle of the main channel of the said 
river Montreal to the Lake of the Desert : thence in a direct line to the nearest 
headwater of the Menominee river; thence tlirough the middle of that fork 
of the said river first touched hy the said line to the main channel of the said 
Menominee: thence down tlie center of tlie main channel of the same to tlie 
center of the most usual ship channel of the Green bay of Lake Michigan; 
thence through the center of the most usual ship channel of the said bay to the 
middle of Lake Michigan: thence through the middle of Lake Michigan to the 
northern boundary of the state of Indiana, as that was established by the act 
of Congress of the nineteenth of April, eighteen hundred and sixteen; thence 
due east with the north boundary line of the said state of Indiana to the north- 
east corner thereof; and thence south, with the east boundary line of Indiana, 
to the place of beginning. 

SECTION III. 

r 

And be it further enacted, that, as a compliance with tiie fundamental 
condition of admission contained in the last preceding section of this act, the 
Iioundaries of the said state of Michigan, as in that section described, declared 
and pul)lished. shall receive the assent of convention of delegates elected by 
the people of the said state for the sole purpose of giving the assent herein 
required: and as soon as the assent herein required shall be given, the Presi- 
dent of the United States shall announce the same by proclamation ; and there- 
upon, and without any further proceeding on the part of Congress, the admis- 
sion of the said state into the union, as one of the United States of America, 
on an equal footing with the original states in all respects whatever, shall be 
considered as complete, and the senators and representatives who have been 
elected by the said state as its representatives in the Congress of the United 
States shall be entitled to their seats in the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives, respectively, without further delay. 

SECTION IV. 

And be it further enacted, that nothing in this act contained or in the 
admission of the said state into the Union as one of the United States of 
America, upon an equal footing with the original states in all respects what- 
ever, shall lie so construed or understood as to confer ujion the people, Legis- 



54 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

lature or other authorities of the said state of Michigan, any authority or right 
to interfere with the sale by the United States, and under their authority, of 
the vacant and unsold lands within the limits of the said state ; but that the 
subject of the public lands, and the interests which may be given of the said 
state therein, shall Ije regulated by future action between Congress, on the part 
of the United States : and the said state of Michigan shall in no case, and 
under no pretense whatsoever, impose any tax, assessment or imposition of 
any description upon any of the lands of the United States within its limits. 



ASSENT 

of the state of ^lichigan to the act of Congress of June 15, 1836, given in 
con\-ention at Ann Arbor, on the 15th day of Decemlier, 1836: 

Whereas, by an act of Congress of June 15, 1836, the constitution and 
state government wliich the people of Michigan have formed for themselves 
is accepted, ratified and confirmed; and whereas, the admission of the state of 
Michigan into the union as one of the United States is provided by the said 
act to be upon the express condition that the said state shall consist of and 
have jurisdiction over all of the territory included within the following boun- 
daries, and over none other, to wit: (See description in section 2 in last 
act. ) 

And whereas, no authority or power is designated in the said act of 
Congress, by which such convention shall \x called or convened ; but in the 
third section of said act, the right of the people of Michigan to elect said dele- 
gates, without any pre\'ious action of their constituted authorities, is clearly 
recognized and manifest: and whereas, the convention originated with, and 
speaks the voice of a great majority of the people of ^tlichigan : and whereas, 
it is provided and enacted in said act, that as soon as the assent therein re- 
quired shall be given, the President of the United States shall announce the 
same by proclamation, and thereupon, and without any further proceedings on 
the part of Congress, the admission of the said state into the union, as one of 
the United States of America on an equal footing with the original states in 
all respects whatever, shall be considered complete. 

Now therefore, this convention are of the opinion, that the Congress of 
the United States had no constitutional right to require the assent aforesaid, 
as a condition preliminary to the admission of the state into the union. 

Nevertheless, as the Congress have required such assent to the condition, 
and as the interest and prosperity of the state will be greatly advanced by our 
immediate admission into the Union, as one of its sovereign states: and the 
people of the said state are solicitous to give to her sister states, and to the 



ISABELLA COUNTV. MICHIGAN. 55 

world, unequivocal proof of her desire to promote tlie tranquility and liarniony 
of tlie confederacy, and to perpetuate tiie unity, lil>erty and prosperity of the 
country. 

'riiercfdre. lie it resolved, liv tiie penplc nf .Michis^an in cinuention as- 
senil>lcd. tliat tlie assent required in tiie foregoing recited act nf the Congress of 
the L'nited States is lierehy given. 



AN ACT 

to admit the state of Michigan into tiic union. u])nn an e(|ual fodlint;' with tiie 
original states. 

Whereas, in pursuance of the act of Congress nf June 13. 1H36, entitled. 
"An act to establish the northern boundary of the state of Ohio, and to pro- 
vide for the admission of the state of Michigan into the union upon the condi- 
tions therein expressed," a comention of delegates, elected by the people of the 
state of Michigan, for the sole jjurpose of gi\ing their assent to the boundaries 
of the said state of Michigan, as described, declared ami established in and by 
the .said act. did on the 15th day of December, 1836. assent to the ])rovisions 
of said act, therefore : 

.SECTION I. 

Be it enacted by the Senate aiul House of i\epresentati\es of the L'niled 
States of America, in Congress assembled, that the state of Michigan shall 
be one, and is hereby declared to be one, of the I'uited States of America, and 
admitted into the union on an eiiual footing with the original states in all re- 
spects whatexer. 

SECTION II. 

And be it further enacted, that the secretary of the treasury, in carrying 
into effect the thirteenth and fourteenth sections of the act of the 27,i\ of June. 
1836. entitled, "An act to regulate the deposits of the public money."' shall 
consider the state of Michigan as being one of the l'nited States. 

Ap|iroved, January 26, 1836. 

The territor)' of ^lichigan was duly organized by the governor and judges 
at Detroit on the 4th day of July, 1803. This form of government continued 
until 1824, when Michigan entered upon its second grade of government. The 
first was to us the no\el method of a governing power I)eing reposed in a gov- 
ernor and judges, who were the executive, legislative and judicial, and con- 
sisted of C.overnor William Hull, Chief Justice .\ugustns R. Woodward and 
Senior .\ssociate lustice Frederick Bates. 



56 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Their first legislative act was "An act concerning the temporary seal of 
the territory of Michigan :" 

"Be it enacted bv the governor and the judges of the territory of Michi- 
gan, that the description in writing of the temporary seal of the territory of 
Michigan, deposited and recorded in the office of the secretary of the territoiy, 
shall remain a public record, and shall be and continue the temporary seal of 
the territory until another permanent seal shall l>e provided ; and the person ad- 
ministering the government of the territory of Michigan shall have the custody 
of the said seal, and all such matters and things as issue under the said seal 
shall be entered of record in the ofifice of the secretary of the territory ; the same 
being adopted by the laws of one of the original States, to wit, the state of New 
York, as far as necessary and suitable to the circumstances of the territory of 
Michigan. 

Adopted and published at Detroit, the ninth day of July, one thousand 
eight hundred and five. 

William Hull, 
Governor of the Territory of Michigan. 

Augustus B. Woodward, 
Chief Justice of the Territory of Michigan. 

Frederick Bates, 
Senior Associate Judge of the Territory of Michigan. 
Attest : 

Peter Audrain, 

Secretary of the Governor and the 
Judges in their Legislative Department. 

The laws of said territory of Michigan continued to be enacted and pub- 
lished during the year 1805 up to October 8th, and during that period the said 
governor and judges passed thirty- four acts for the government of the said 
territory of Michigan. 

Gen. William Hull continued to be governor until his surrender of Detroit 
to the British August 16, 181 2, for which he was court-martialed at Albany, 
New York, January 3, 1814, and was sentenced to be shot, which sentence was 
remitted. 

Many of the territorial records were destroyed by the British at the cap- 
ture of Detroit and much of the official data was lost. 

On October 29, 1813, Gen. Lewis Cass was appointed governor, and con- 
tinued as such until August i, 183 1, when he resigned to go into the cabinet 
of President Jackson as secretary' of war. 



ISABELLA roi'NTV. MICHICAX. 57 

Under the governorship of General Cass we have what is known as the 
"Cass Code or Digest of Laws of tlie Territory of Micliigan." wliicli comprise 
the acts of the governor and judges during the Cass regime. 

August 6. 1831, George B. Porter was appointed governor of the territory 
of Micliigan and held tiiat position until his death, which occurred July 6. 1834. 
At the time of the death of Governor I'orter, Stevens T. Mason was secretary 
and by virtue of his office became acting governor of the territory of Michigan 
and retained that office until Michigan adopted her state constitution in 1835, 
when he was elected as governor and was inaugurated as such Xoveml^er 3. 

J 835- 

The first state convention to adopt a state constitution for Michigan was 
held in Detroit in May, 1835. The territory had acquired the necessary popu- 
lation to entitle it to he admitted into the union of states, to wit, sixty thousand, 
as provided in the ordinance of 1787. .\ constitution was formed by the con- 
\ention of May, 1835, and an electit)n was proxided for and duly called for the 
ratification of said constitution and for the election of state officers, to be held 
on the first Monday of the following October. At said election, the consti- 
tution was duly adopted, and Stevens T. Mason was elected governor, Edward 
Mundy, lieutenant-governor, and Isaac E. Crary, representative in Congress. 

The Legislature met in November, 1835, and proceeded to elect John Xor- 
vell and Lucius Lj-on, United States senators for Michigan. 

All was now ready for statehood and admission into the Union. At this 
juncture a misunderstanding arose between the state of Ohio and the govern- 
ment of Michigan as to the boundarv line between them. Through careless- 
ness or inadvertence Ohio had lieen admitted into the Union with an uncertain 
boundary in 1802. The act of 1805, organizing Michigan territory, fixed the 
boundary at a line running due east from the southern end of Lake Michigan. 
This included Toledo and a considerable strip of land which Ohio claimed. In 
1835 the governor of Ohio issued a proclamation assuming control and the 
state Legislature passed an act to organize the county of Lucas. Acting 
Governor Mason of Michigan called out the militia and proceeded to Toledo to 
prevent the Ohio officers from exercising control oi the disputed land. A few 
shots w^ere fired, but no blood was shed. Congress than took the matter in 
hand, held up Michigan statehood, oflfered Michigan the lands now known as 
the L^])per Peninsula, provided she would relin(|iiish her claim and allow the 
southern line to be established where it now is. This e.xplains how Michigan 
became possessed with the L'pper Peninsula. This dispute being settled. 
Michigan was duly admitted as a state and liecaine the twenty-sixth in the 
galaxy of states, just doubling the original thirteen. The final act was ap- 
proved January 26. 1837. 



58 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

THE STATE CAPITAL. 

The seat of government was at Detroit from the time of Cadillac's oc- 
cupancy of Fort Ponchartrain, 1701 to 1847, '^"t in the latter year the Legis- 
lature decided to locate the permanent capital of Michigan at Lansing, then 
covered with a dense forest and forty miles distant from any railroad. The 
project at first seemed to the people visionary and much adverse criticism was 
heard all aliout the state. As time elapsed and buildings and clearing was 
had, roads and railroads laid out and constructed, it was found not to be so 
poor a place for the seat of government as first supposed. The people be- 
came reconciled to the change of location, the city of Lansing began to grow 
so that there was accommodation for those desiring to do business at the 
capital. The state was acquiring some reputation as an agricultural, manu- 
facturing, mining and lumbering entity and railroads were projected and built 
to the capital city, thus giving them an outlet and inlet for business and tra\el. 
The old capitol building was getting old and insecure as a place for valuable 
records such as state naturally and necessarily owns and possesses, so that in 
1871 the Legislature, feeling the necessity of a more secure repository for the 
records of the state and a more suitable and convenient place for the Legisla- 
ture to meet during their sessions, as well as suitable and convenient places 
for the state officers and all employees, passed an act entitled "An act to pro- 
vide for the erection of a new state capitol and a building for the temporary 
use of the state officers," approved jNIarch 31, 187 1. By this act the governor 
was authorized to appoint a building committee of three suitable men and he 
appointed as such committee E. O. Grovenor, James Shearer and Alexander 
Chapoton. 

They met at the office of the governor on the nth day of .-\pril. 1871, 
took the constitutional oath of office, filed their bonds and completed their 
organization by the election of Commissioner Grovenor as vice-president of 
the board, Governor Baldwin being e.K-officio the presiding officer. On the 
5th of June the committee met and advertised for plans and specifications for 
a building. Se\-eral plans were presented to the commission and finally, on 
the 24th day of January, 1872, the commission, out of twenty sets of plans, 
unanimously adopted those presented by Elijah E. Myers of Springfield, 
Illinois. On March 20th the board entered into an agreement with Elijah E. 
Mvers to act as architect and general superintendent of the construction of 
the new capitol, at a compensation of twenty-fi\e thousand dollars. On the 
20th of May the detail drawings and specifications were completed by Mr. 
Myers and on the 21st advertisements were sent to the papers at Xew York, 



ISABELLA COLNTV. MICHIGAN. 59 

Chicago. Detroit and Lansing soliciting proposals from Iniilders and con- 
tractors for erecting and completing the capitol in accordance witii tiie plans 
and specifications adopted. The bids were submitted July 8th, and on the 
15th the commissioners entered into a contract with X. Osburn & Company, 
of Rochester, New York, and Detroit. Michigan, to construct and complete 
the capitol. in accordance with the plans, specifications and detail drawings, 
for the sum of $1,144,057.20, all four fronts to lie constructed of Xo. 1 Am- 
herst, Ohio, sandstone. The building was to be completed December t. 1877. 
and the contractors entered upon the work at once. 

The Legislature by a joint resolution, in 1873. apprt)ved April J4tli. pro- 
vided for a public celebration upon the laying of the corner stone of the capitol 
and for the appointment of a committee to provide appropriate arrangements 
therefor. 

The committee was to consist of the governnr. who should be its chair- 
man, the members of the board of state building commissioners and ten citi- 
zens of the state, to l)e appointed by the governor. 

The committee so appointed consisted of the following persons : Gov- 
ernor John J. Bagley, chairman. Detroit: Ebenezer O. Grovenor, vice-presi- 
dent. Jonesville: Allen L. Bours, secretary. Lansing; James Shearer, Bay 
Citv; Alexander Chapoton. Detroit; David Anderson. Bear Lake Mills; John 
P. Hoyt. X'assar; William H. Withington. Jackson; Augustus S. (iaylord. 
Saginaw; Ellery I. Garfield. Detroit; John Hibbard. Port Huron; Leonard H. 
Randall. C^irand Rapids; Oliver L. Spaulding. St. Johns; William H. Stone. 
Adrian ; John S. Tooker, Lansing. 

The Ixjard of state building commissioners was directed by the Legis- 
lature to procure a suitable corner stone and to cause the following inscrip- 
tion to be caned thereon with raised letters in sunk panels ; On the east 
face. "A. D. 1872." and on the north face, "A. D." and the year of com- 
pletion. Xew Hampshire granite was the material selected for the corner 
stone, and the design was prepared by .\rchitect Myers and the contract for 
preparing it was awarded to Struthers & Sons of Philadelphia. 

The corner stone of the capitol of the state of ^Michigan was laid on 
Thursday, the 2d day of October. 1873. A procession was formed under 
the direction of Gen. William Humphrey, chief marshal, consisting of the 
military, civil officers, commanderies of Knights Templar. Masonic fraternity, 
encampment and fraternity Independent Order of Odd I'ellows. after which 
an introductory address was delivere<l by Governor Bagley. This was fol- 
lowed by prayer of Bishop Samuel .\. McCosky. and the singing of the na- 
tional anthem. ''America." bv the assembled multitude. Then came the ora- 



6o ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

tion of the day by Hon. William A. Howard, following which was the im- 
pressive ceremony of laying the corner stone, conducted by Hon. Hugh Mc- 
Curdy, grand master of the grand lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the 
state of Michigan. The capitol was finally completed in 1878, at a total cost 
of $1,510,130.59. The total appropriation amounted to $1,525,241.05, leav- 
ing an unexpended balance of $15,110.46. The state capitol was dedicated 
and occupied in Januan.-, 1879. It is situated in the center of a square tract 
of land containing ten acres; is three hundred and forty-five feet long; in- 
cluding porticoes and steps, four hundred and twenty feet ; one hundred and 
ninety-two feet wide ; including porticoes and steps, two hundred and seventy- 
four feet ; and two hundred and sixty-seven feet high. It covers one and one- 
sixtli acres and lias a walk around the outside of one thousand five hundred 
and twenty feet in length. 

During the year 1899-1900 a system of electric lighting was inaugurated 
in the capitol, which necessitated the laying of thirty-four miles of rubber 
covered wire, thirty-four thousand feet of circular loom conduit and four 
thousand five hundred feet iron conduit ; three thousand four hundred incan- 
descent and five arc lamps were placed in position, the expense of which was 
about eighteen thousand five hundred dollars. 

The capitol is at present occupied by the Legislature when in session, 
the governor, the state officers, the supreme court, and the state library. 
Owing to the growth and development of the state, the business of the various 
departments has increased until the commissioner of labor and the food and 
dairy commissioner are compelled to occupy quarters in the old state building, 
comer Washington avenue and .\llegan street. The military equipage is also 
stored in the old state building and the state tax commission is at present 
quartered in the city hall building. 

It is to be hoped that the good people of the state will insist on better 
and more economical administration of the affairs of the state and a lopping 
off of unnecessary employees as well as unnecessary divisions of government, 
to the end that we will have sufficient room for all necessary governmental 
offices and save tiie necessity of adding to the present capitol building. 



CHAPTER IV. 



INDIAN TRF-ATIES AND PATENTS. 



Franklin Pierce. President ui the L'nited States of America. 
To all to whom these presents may come, greeting : 

Whereas, a treaty was made and concluded at the city of Detroit, in the 
state of Michigan, on the 2d day of August, 1855, between George W. Many- 
penny and Henry C. (Gilbert, commissioners on the part of the United States. 
and the Chippewa Indians, of Saginaw, parties to the treaty of January 14. 
1837, and that portion of tiie bands of Chipjiewa Indians of Swan Creek and 
Black River, parties to the treaty of May 9, 1836, and now remaining in the 
state of Michigan, which treaty is in the words and figures following, to-wit : 

Articles of agreement and convention, made and concluded at the city 
of Detroit, in the state of Michigan, this second day of August, 1855, between 
George W. Alanypenny and Henry C. (iilbert, commissioners on the part of 
the L'nited States, and the Chippewa Indians of Saginaw, parties to the treaty 
of January 14, 1837, ^""^ ^'^'^^ portion of the bands of Chippewa Indians of 
Swan Creek and Black River, parties to the treaty of May 9, 1836, and now 
remaining in the state of Michigan. 

In \iew of the existing condition of the Indians aforesaid, and of their 
legal and equitable claims against the L'nited States, it is agreed l^etween the 
contracting parties as follows : 

ARTfCr.F. I. 

The L'nited States will withdraw from sale, for the benefit of said Indi- 
ans, as herein provided, all the unsold public lands within the state of Michi- 
gan embraced within the following descriptions, namely : 

First. Six adjoining townships of land in the county of Isaliella, to be 
selected by said Indians within three months from this date, and notice thereof 
given to their agent. 

Second. A tract of land in one body, equal in extent to two townships, 
on the north side of Saginaw bay, to be selected by them, and notice given 
as above provided. 



62 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

The United States will give to each of the said Indians being the head 
of a family, eighty acres of land ; and to each single person over twenty-one 
years of age. forty acres of land : and to each family of orphan children under 
twenty-one years of age, containing two or more persons, eighty acres of land; 
and to each single orphan child under twenty-one years of age. fortv acres 
of land : to be selected and located within the several tracts of land herein- 
before described, under the same rules and regulations, in every respect, as 
are provided by the agreement concluded on the 31st day of July, A. D. 1855, 
with the Ottawas and Chippewas of Michigan for the selection of their lands. 

And the said Chippewas of Saginaw, and of Swan Creek and Black 
River, shall have the same exclusive right to enter lands within the tracts 
withdrawn from sale for them, for five years after the time limited for select- 
ing the lands to which they are individually entitled as is extended to the 
Ottawas and Chippewas by the terms of said agreement. 

ARTICLE TWO. 

The United States will also pay to the said Indians the sum of two hun- 
dred and twenty thousand dollars, in the manner following, to-wit: 

First. Thirty thousand dollars for educational purposes, to be paid in 
five equal annual instalments of four thousand dollars each, and in five subse- 
cjuent ecjual annual instalments of two thousand dollars each, to be expended 
under the direction of the President of the United States. 

Second. Fortv thousand dollars, in fi\-e equal annual instalments of 
five thousand dollars each, and in five subsequent equal annual instalments of 
three thousand dollars each, in agricultural implements and carpenter tools, 
household furniture and building materials, cattle, labor, and all such articles 
as may be necessary and useful for them in removing to the homes herein 
provided and getting pernianentlv settled thereon. 

Third. One hundred and thirty-seven thousand and six hundred dollars 
in coin, in ten equal annual instalments of ten thousand dollars each, and in 
two subsequent annual instalments of eighteen and eight hundred dollars 
each, to be distributed per capita in the usual manner of paying annuities. 

Fourth. Twelve thousand and four hundred dollars for the support 
of one blacksmith shop for ten years. 

The United States will also build a grist and saw-mill for said Indians at 
some point in the territorv. to be selected Iiv them in said county of Isabella, 
provided a suitable water power can be found, and will furnish and equip 
the same with all necessarv fixtures and machinerv. and will construct such 



ISABELLA COUNTY. Ml( IIICAX. 63 

dam. race and other appurtenances as maj' be necessary to render tlie water 
power available ; provided that the whole amount for wliicli the United States 
shall be liable under this provision shall not exceed the sum of eight thousand 
dollars. 

ARTICLE THREE. 

The said Chippewas of Saginaw, and of Swan Creek and Black River, 
hereby cede to the United States all the lands within the state of Michigan 
heretofore owned by them as reservations, and whether held for tiiem in trust 
by the United States or otherwi.se: and they do liereby, jointly and severally, 
release and discharge the United States from all liability to tiiem. and to their 
or either of their said tribes, for the price and value of all such lands here- 
tofore sold and the proceeds of which remain unpaid. And they also hereby 
surrender all their, and each of their ])ermancnt annuities, secured to them, 
or either of them by former treaty stijjulations. including that portion of the 
annuity of eight hundred dollars payable to "the Chippewas" by the treaty 
of November 17, 1807, to which they are entitled, it being distinctly under- 
stood and agreed, that the grants and pa\nients hereinbefore provided for 
are in lieu and satisfaction of all claims legal and equitable on the part of said 
Indians, jointly and severally, against the United States for land, money, or 
other thing guaranteed to said tribes, or eitlier of them, by the stipulations 
of any former treaty or treaties. 

ARTICLE FOUR. 

The entry of lands heretofore made by the Indians and by the }tIissionary 
Society of the ^lethodist Episcopal church for the benefit of the Indians on 
lands withdrawn from the sale in township 14 north, range 5 east, and town- 
ship 10 north, range 3 east, in the state of Michigan, are hereby confirmed, 
and patent shall be issued therefor as in other cases. 

ARTICLE FIVE. 

The United States will provide an interpreter for said Indians for five 
years, and as much longer as the President may deem necessary. 

ARTICLE SIX. 

The tribal organization of said Indians, except so far as may be neces- 
sary for the purpose of carr}ing into effect the provisions of this agreement, 
is herebv dissolved. 



64 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 



ARTICLE SEVEN. 

This agreement shall be obligatory and binding on the contracting parties 
as soon as the same shall be ratified by the President and Senate of the United 
States. 

In testimony whereof, the said George W. Manypenny and the said 
Henry C. Gilbert, commissioners as aforesaid, and the undersigned, chiefs 
and head men of the Chippewas of Saginaw, and of Swan Creek and Black 
River, have hereunto set their hands and seals at the city of Detroit the day 
and year first above written. 

(Signed) George W. Manypenny. (L. S.) 
Henry C. Gilbert. (L. S.) 

Richard M. Smith, 
J. LoCan Chipman, 

Secretaries. 

SAGINAW bands. 



Ot-taw-ance, Chief, his X mark. 
O-saw-waw-ban, Chief, his X mark. 
Nanck-che-gaw-me, Chief, his X mark. 
Kaw-gay-ge-zhick, Chief, his X mark. 
Shaw-shaw-way-nay, Chief, his X mark. 
Pe-nay-se-way-be, Chief, his X mark. 
Naw-we-ge-zhick, Chief, his X mark. 
Saw-gaw-che-way-o-say, Chief, his X mark. 
Naw-taw-way, Chief, his X mark. 
Wain-ge-ge-zhick. Chief, his X mark. 
Caw-we-squaw-bay-no-kay, Chief, his X mark. 
Pe-tway-we-tum. Headman, his X mark. 
Kay-bay-guo-um, Headman, his X mark. 
Pay-baw-man-she. Headman, his X mark. 
Aw-be-taw-quot, Headman, his X mark. 
Aish-quay-go-nay-be, Headman, his X mark. 
Pay-me-saw-aw, Headman, his X mark. 
Aw-taw-we-go-nay-lje, Headman, his X mark. 
Pav-she-nin-ne, Headman, his X mark. 



L. S. 
L. S. 
L. S. 



L. S. 
L. S. 
L. S. 
L. S. 
L. S. 
L. S. 
L. S. 
L. S. 
L. S. 
L. S. 
L. S. 



ISABELLA COUXTY, MICHIGAN. 65 

SWAN CREEK ANO BLACK RIVER BAND. 

Pay-me-quo-ung. Chief, his X mark. (L. S. ) 

Xay-ge-zhick Headman, his X mark. (L. S. ) 

Maw-che-che-won, Headman, his X mark. (L. S.) 

Executed in the presence of 
G. D. WilHams, 
George Smith, 
W. H. Collins. 
Manasseh Hickey. 
P. O. Jolinson. 
Josepli F. Marsal. 
John M. D. Johnson, 
Charles H. Rodd, 
S. M. Moran. 

Interpreters. 

And whereas, the treaty ha\ing l^een submitted to the Senate of the 
United States for its constitutional approval thereon, the Senate did on the 
15th day of April. 1856, advise and consent to the ratification of the same, 
by a resolution in the words and figures following, to-wit : 

In executive session. Senate of the United States, April 15. 1836, resolved 
(two-thirds of the senators present concurring), that the Senate advise and 
consent to the ratification of the treaty made with the Chippewas of Saginaw, 
Swan Creek and Black Ri\er of tlie 2d day of August. 1855. with tlie follow- 
ing amendments : 

Article One. Strike out the words "a tract of land in one body ecpial in 
extent to two townships on the north side of Saginaw bay to be selected by 
them, and notice given as above provided," and insert in lieu thereof the 
words "towniships Xos. 17 and 18 north, ranges 3. 4 and 5 east:" same article, 
insert after the word '"entitled" last clause but one. the following, "and the 
same right to sell and dispose of land entered l)y them, under tlu' provisions 
of the act of Congress, known as the graduation act." 

Article Two. Add thereto the following paragra|)hs : "The United 
States will also ])ay the further sum of four thousand dollars for the purpose 
of purchasing a saw mill, and in repair of the same, and in adding thereto the 
necessary machinery and fixtures for a run of stone for grinding grain, the 
same to lie located on the tract described in clause second, article mie." 

(5) 



66 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Tlie United States will also pay the further sum of twenty thousand 
dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessaiy, to be applied in liquidation 
of the present just indebtedness of said Indians ; provided, that all claims pre- 
sented shall be investigated under the direction of the secretary of the interior 
within six months, who shall prescribe such rules and regulations for con- 
ducting such investigation, and for testing the validity and justice of the 
claims as he shall deem suitable and proper. And no claim shall be paid 
except on the certificate of said secretary that, in his opinion, the same is 
justly and ec|uitably due: and all claimants who shall not present their claims 
within such time as shall be limited by said secretary, or, whose claim hav- 
ing been ])resented, shall be disallowed by him, shall forever be precluded 
from collecting the same or maintaining an action thereon in any court what- 
ever. And provided also that no portion of money due said Indians for 
annuities as herein provided, shall ever be appropriated to pay their debts, 
under any pretense whatever: Provided, that the l.ialance of the amount 
herein allowed as a just increase for the cessions and relinquishments afore- 
said, after satisfaction of the awards of the secretary of the interior, shall be 
paid to said Indians, or expended for their benefit in such manner as the 
secretary shall prescribe, in aid of any of the objects specified in this treaty. 

Attest : AsBURY Dickins, 

Secretary. 

We, the undersigned chiefs and head-men of the Chippewas of Saginaw 
and of the Chippewas of Swan Creek and Black River having heard the fore- 
going amendments read and the same having been fully explained to us by 
our agent, do hereby agree to and ratify the same. Done at Saginaw this 14th 
day of May, A. D. 1856. 

Nach-che-gaw-me, his X mark. (L. S.) 

0-saw-waw-bun. his X mark. (L. S. ) 

Shaw~way-naw-se-gay, his X mark. (L. S.) 

Way-shaw-wari-no, his X mark. ( L. S. ) 

Naw-ne-ge-zhick, his X mark. (L. S.) 

Shaw-shaw-way-ne-beece, his X mark. (L. S.) 

Saw-gaw-che-way-o-say, his X mark. ( L. S. ) 

Caw-gay-ge-zhick, his X mark. ( L. S. ) 

Ot-law-ance, his X mark. (L. S.) 

Pe-nay-se-way-be, his X mark. ( L. S. ) 

Ah-co-gin, bis X mark. ( L. S. ) 



ISABELLA COL'XTV, MICIUGAX. OJ 

Pay-me-quo-iing, iiis X mark. (L. S.) 

Xa\v-ga\v-iie, his X mark. (L. S.) 

Xay-ge-zhick. his X mark. (L. S.) 

Wain-ge-gc-zliick. liis X mark. ( L. S.) 

Ka\v-me-g\van-te-no-kay, liis X mark, (L. S.) 

Xa\v-ta\v-\vay. his X mark. (L. S.) 

Signed in presence of 

Henry C. Giltierl. Indian agent, 

Charles H. Rodd. Interpreter. 

Samuel Kirkland. Interjjretcr. 

P. O. Johnson, 

P. Marksman. Interpreter, 

G. D. Williams. 

H. B. Adams. 

Xow. therefore, he it known, that I, Franklin Pierce, President of the 
L'nited States of America, do. in pursuance of the adxicc and consent of the 
Senate, as expressed in their res(ilutii)n of the I5tli day of April, 1856, accept, 
ratify and confirm the said treat}-. 

In testimony I have caused the seal of the United States to he hereto 
affixed, ha\ing signed the same with my hand. 

Done at the city of Washington, this twcnt\-first da\- of June. .\. 1). 1856. 
and of the independence of the United States the eightieth. 
By the President: Fraxklix Pierce. 

W. L. Marcv. 

Secretar\' of State. 

It was provided by the treaty of 1855 \v'th the Chippewas of Saginau. 
Swan Creek and Black River, that they were "to have the same exclusi\e 
right to enter lands within the tracts withdrawn from sale for them for fi\e 
years after the time limited for selecting the lands to which they are indi- 
\idually entitled, and the same right to sell and dispose of land entered by 
them, under the provisions of the act of Congress known as the Graduation 
Act. as is extended Ut the Ottawas and Chippewas hy the terms of said agree- 
ment."' 

The terms referred to in the treaty ni July .^1. 1855. witii the Ottawas 
and Chi])])ewas. are as follows: That each Indian entitled to make a selec- 
tion of land should indicate what governmental description he had .selected 



68 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

as his and deliver the same to the Indian agent. That for the puipose of 
determining who were entitled, hsts were to be made designating them in four 
classes. Class one to contain heads of families; class two, those of single 
persons over twenty-one years of age ; class three, those orphan children under 
twenty-one years of age, comprising families of two or more persons ; and 
class four, those single orphan children under twenty-one years of age. 

After tlie completion of these lists the Indian had five years to make his 
selection. 

As soon as the selection was made the Indian was entitled to possession 
and a certificate from the government guaranteeing possession and title ulti- 
mately to the land. Such certificate to be nonassignable and the land could 
not be alienated by the holder of the certificate. After the expiration of ten 
years, such restriction on the power of sale was to be withdrawn antl a patent 
issued in the usual form. These certificates were in the following form : 

INDIAN LAND CERTIFICATE. 

Ottawas and Ciiippewas — Treaty of July 31ST, 1855. 

Of^ce Michigan Indian Agency. 

Detroit, December 19, 1865. 

It is hereby certified that Thomas Nay-waw-caw-gish-kung is entitled to 
eighty acres of land under the provisions of the treaty of July 31. 1855, and 
that he has selected the east one-half of the southeast one-Cjuarter, containing 
eighty acres of section ig, in township 15 north, range 4 west, in the county 
of Isabella. The said Thomas Nay-waw-caw-gish-kung may take immediate 
possession of said land and occupy the same, and the United States guarantees 
such possession and will hold the title thereto in trust for him and his heirs, 
until a patent in the usual form shall be issued therefor according to the terms 
of said treaty. 

This certificate is not assignable and the said Thomas Xay-waw-caw- 
gish-kung is expressly prohibited from assigning" or attempting to assign the 
same and from selling or transferring the said land, or disposing of the same 
or of any interest therein to any person under penalty of an entire forfeiture 
thereof. 

Richard AI. Smith. 

Indian .\gent. 

In another paragraph it is provided that all lands not selected at the end 
of five years shall remain the property of the government and be subject to 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICH UiAN . 69 

entry by tlie Indians only, and at the same rate as other government lands. 
.Ml such lands to be sold to the Indians without any restrictions and patents 
to be issued therefor. 

TREATY WITH THE ClUri'EWAS OF SAGIXAW, SWAN CREEK AND BLACK 

RIVER, 1864. 

Articles of agreement and convention made and concluded at the Isal)ella 
Indian reservation, in the state of Michigan, on the i8th day of October, in 
the year 1864, between H. J. Alvord. special commissioner of the United 
States, and D. C. Leach, United States Indian agent, acting as commissioner 
for and on the part of the United States, and the Chippewas of Saginaw, 
Swan Creek and Black River, in the state of Michigan aforesaid, parties to 
the treaty of August 2. 1855. as follows, viz: 

Article i. The said Chippewas of Saginaw. Swan Creek and Black 
River, for and in consideration of the conditions hereinafter specified, do 
hereby release to the United States the several townships of land reserved 
to said tribe by said treat}' aforesaid, situate and being upon Saginaw liay. 
in said state. 

The .'^aid Indians al.so agree to relintiuish in the United States all claim 
to any right they may possess to locate lands in lieu of lands sold or disposed 
of l)v the United States upon their rcscr\ation at Isabella, and also the right 
to purchase the unselected lands in said reservation, as provided fur in the 
first article of said treaty. 

-Article 2. In consideration of the foregoing relinciuishments. the 
United States hereby agree to set apart for the exclusive use. ownership and 
occu]3ancv of the said Chippewas of Saginaw. Swan Creek and Black River, 
all of the unsold lands within the six townshi])s in Isabella coinit\- reserved to 
said Indians by the treaty of .\ugust 2. 1855. aforesaid, and designated as 
follows, viz: The north half of township 14 and townships 15 and 16 north, 
of range 3 west: the north half of township 14 and township 15 north, of 
range 4 west, and townships 14 and 15 north, of range 5 west. 

Article 3. So soon as practicable after tlie ratification of this treaty, 
the persons who have heretofore made selections of lands within the townships 
of Saginaw Bay. hereby relinquished, may proceed to make selections of 
lands upon the Isabella reservation in lieu of their selections aforesaid, and 
in like cjuantities. 

After a rea.sonable time .shall have been given for the parties aforesaid to 
make their selections in lieu of those relinquished, the other persons entitled 
thereto mav then proceed to make their selections in quantities as follows, viz: 



70 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

For each chief of said Indians who signs this treat}', eighty acres in ad- 
dition to their selections already made, and to patents in fee simple. For one 
head man in each Ijand into which said Indians are now divided, forty acres, 
and to patents in fee simple. 

For each person being the head of a family, eighty acres. 

For each single person over the age of twenty-one years, forty acres. 

For each orphan child under the age of twenty-one years, forty acres. 

For eacli married female who has not heretofore made a selection of land, 
forty acres. 

And for each other person now living, ur who may be born hereafter, 
when he or she shall have arrived at the age of twenty-one years, forty acres, 
so long as any of the lands in saiil reserve shall remain nnselected, and no 
longer. 

In consideration of important services rendered to saiil Indians during 
many years past, by William Smith, John Collins ist, Andrew J. Compau, and 
Thomas Cliatfield, it is hereby agreed that the_\- shall each be alln\\ed to select 
eighty acres in addition to their previous selection, and receive patents therefor 
in fee simple ; and to Charles H. Rodd. eighty acres, and a patent therefor in 
fee simple, to be received by said Rodd in full consideration and payment of 
all claims he may have against said Indians, except claims against individuals 
for services rendered or money expended heretofore b\- said Rodd for the 
benefit of said Indians. 

It is understood and agreed that those Ottawas and Chippewas and 
Pottawatomies now belonging to bands of which Metayomeig, May-me-she- 
gaw-day, Keche-kebe-me-mo-say and Waw'-be-maw-ing-gun are chiefs, Avho 
have heretofore made selections upon said reservation, by permission of said 
Chippewas of Saginaw, Swan Creek and Black River, who now reside upon 
said reservation in Isabella county, or who may remove to said reservation 
within one year after the ratification of this treaty, shall be entitled to the 
same rights and pri\'ileges to select and hold land as are contained in the third 
article of this agreement. 

So soon as practicable after the ratification of this treaty, the agent for 
the said Indians shall make out a list of all those persons who have hereto- 
fore made selections of lands under the treaty of August 2, 1855, aforesaid, 
and of those who ma)- be entitled to selections under the provisions of this 
treatv, and he shall divide the persons enumerated in said list into two classes, 
viz: "Competents" and "those not so competent." Those who are intelligent, 
and lia\'e sufficient education, and are qualified by business habits to prudently 
manage their affairs, shall be set down as ''competents" and those who are 



ISABELLA COVSry. MU IIIC.AN. 7I 

uneducated, or un(|ualified in other respects to prudently mana.tjc their affairs, 
or who are of idle, wanderino^ or dissolute habits, and all orplians, siiall be set 
clown as "those not so competent." 

The L'nited States agrees to issue patents to all persons entitled to 
selections under this treaty, as follows, viz : To those belonging to the class 
denominated "competents" patents shall be issued in fee simple, but to those 
belonging to the class of "those not so competent" the ])atent sh.dl contain a 
provision tliat the land shall never be sold or alienated to any person or per- 
sons whomsoever, without tlie consent of tlie secretaiy of the interior for the 
time being. 

.\rticle 4. 'i"he United States agrees to expend the sum of twenty 
thousand (hdlars for the support and maintenance of a manual labor school 
upon said reservation: Provided, tliat the Missionary Society of the 
Methodist Episcopal church shall, within three years after the ratification of 
this treaty, at its own expense erect suitable buildings for school ;uid lioard- 
ing-house purposes, of a value of not less than three thousand dollars, upon 
the southeast quarter of section 9, township 14 north, range 4 west, which 
is herel)y set apart for that purpose. 

The superintendent of public instruction, the lieutenant-governor of the 
state of Michigan, and one person, to be designated by said missionary societv, 
shall constitute a board of visitors, whose duty it shall Ije to \isit said school 
once during each year, and examine liie same, and investigate the character 
and qualifications of its teachers and all other persons connected therewith, 
and re])ort thereon to the commissioner of Indian affairs. The said Mission- 
ary Society of the Methodist Episcopal church shall have full and undisputed 
control of the management of said school and the farm attached thereto. 
Upon the approval and accei)tance of the school and boarding-house buildings 
l)y the board of visitors, the United States will pay to the authorized agent of 
said missionary societv. for the sup])ort and maintenance of said school, the 
sum of twii thousand dollars, and a like sum annualh' thereafter, until the 
whole sum of twenty thousand dollars shall have been expended. 

The United States reserves the right to suspend the annual appropriation 
of two thousand dollars for said school, in part or in whole, whenever it 
shall appear that .said missionary society neglects or fails to manage the affairs 
of said school and f.irm in a manner acceptable to the board of \isitors afore- 
said : and if, at any time within a period of ten years after the establishment 
of said school or farm for the purpose intended in this treaty, then, and in 
such case, said society shall forfeit all of its rights in the lands, buildings and 
franchises under this treaty, and it shall then be competent for the secretary 



72 ■ ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

of the interior to sell or dispose of the land hereinbefore designated, together 
with the buildings and improvements thereon and expend the proceeds of the 
same for the educational interest of the Indians in such manner as he may 
deem advisable. 

At the expiration of ten years after the establishment of said school, if 
said missionary society shall have conducted said school and farm in a man- 
ner acceptable to the board of visitors during said ten years, the United States 
will convev to said society the land before mentioned by patent in trust for 
the benefit of said Indians. 

In case said missionary society shall fail to accept the trust herein named 
within one year after the ratification of this treaty, then, and in that case, the 
said twentv thousand dollars shall be placed to the educational fund of said 
Indians, to be expended for their lienefit in such manner as the secretary of 
the interior may deem advisable. 

It is understood and agreed that said missionary society may use the 
school house now standing upon land adjacent to the land hereinbefore set 
apart for a school-farm, where it now stands, or mo^•e it upon the land so 
set apart. 

■ Article 5. The said Indians agree that, of the last two payments of 
eighteen thousand eight hundred dollars each, provided for by said treaty of 
Aueust 2, 18=;;, the sum of seventeen thousand six hundred dollars mav be 
withheld, and the same shall be placed to the credit of their agricultural fund, 
to be expended for their benefit in sustaining their blacksmith shop, in stock, 
animals, agricultural implements, or in such other manner as the secretary of 
the interior may deem advisable. 

Article 6. The commissioner of Indian affairs may, at the rec|uest of 
the chiefs and head-men, sell the mill and land belonging tliereto at Isabella 
City, on said reservation, and apply the proceeds thereof for such beneficiary 
objects as mav be deemed advisable by the secretary of the interior. 

Article 7. Inasmuch as the mill belonging to said Indians is partly lo- 
cated upon land heretofore selected b}- James Nicholson, it is hereby agreed 
that upon a relinquisliment of ten acres of said land by said Nicholson, in 
such form as mav be determined by the agent for said Indians, the said Nichol- 
son shall be entitled to select eighty acres of land, subject to approval of the 
secretary of the interior, and to receive a patent therefor in fee simple. 

Article 8. It is hereby expressly understood that the eighth article of 
the treaty of August 2, 1855, shall in no wise be affected by the terms of this 
treaty. 

In te.stinionv whereof, the said H, T. Alvord and the said D. C. Leach, 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 73 

commissioners as aforesaid, and the undersigned cliiefs and headmen of tlie 
Chippewas of Saginaw. Swan Creek and Black River, liave hereunto set their 
hands and seals at Isabella, in the state of Michigan, tlic day and year first 
above written. 

11. j. Alvord, (seal) 

D. C. Leach. (seal) 
Special Commissioners. 
In presence of 

Richard M. Smith, 

Charles H. Rodd, United States Interpreter. 

George Bradley. 

S. D. Siniciuds. Chief, his X mark. (seal 

Lyman Bennett, Headman, his X mark. (seal 

Jno. Pay-me-quo-ung, Chief, his X mark. (.seal 

William Smith. Headman, his X mark. (seal 

Xauck-che-gaw-me. Chief, his X mark. (seal 

Me-squaw-\va\\-na\v-c|not, Headman, his X mark. (seal 

Thomas DuttoiL Chief, his X mark. (seal 

Paim-way-Ave-dnng. Headman, his X mark. (seal 

Elliott Kayback, Chief, his X mark. (seal 

Solomon Ottawa, Headman, his X mark. (seal 

Andw. O-saw-waw-bun, Chief, his X mark. (seal 

Thos. Wain-da wnaw-quot. Headman, his X mark. (seal 

X'aw-taw-way, Chief, his X mark. (seal 

I-kay-che-no-ting. his X mark. (seal 

Xe-gaw-ne-quo-um. headmaiL his X mark. (seal 

Waw-be-manl-do. headman, his X mark. (seal 

Xe-be-nay-aw-naw-quot-way-be, chief, his X mark. (seal 

Key-o-gwaw-iia\-t)e. headmaiL his .\ mark. (seal 

\\'illiam Smith, chief, his X mark. (seal 

Xaw-gaw-ne\ay-we-dnng. headman, hi^ X mark. (seal 

I-yalk. headmrn. liis X mark. (seal 

Xay-aw-be-tnng, chief, his X mark. (seal 

Jos. ^^■ay-bc-ge-zhick. headman, his X mark. (seal 

SamI Mez-haw-qnaw-naw-unL chief, his X mark. (seal 

John P. Williams, headman, his X mark. (seal 

L. Pay-baw-maw-she. chief, his X mark. (seal 

David Fisher, chief, his X mark. (seal 



74 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

In presence of 

Richard M. Smith, Charles H. Rodd, United States Interpreter. 

Amos F. Albright, Superintendent Mills. 

Marcus Grinnell, United States blacksmith. 

M. D. Baurassa, F. C. Babbett. George Bradley. 

.\t the time of the making of the treaty of 1864 there was a good deal 
of contention between the Indians and the agents of the government as to the 
kind of a patent the Indian should receive for the land he shoidd select. The 
Indians were claiming patents in fee simple, while the representatives of the 
government were desirous of making this reservation a perpetuity for the 
Indians. They feared that if the Indian obtained a title to his land that was 
alienable, he would squander it and would soon be without land or a home. 
One of the grandest and most pathetic pleas we ever heard was made on that 
occasion bv the Great Chief Shaw-shaw-waw-na-beece. in behalf of his people. 
He recounted many of the wrongs that his people had suffered at the hands of 
the white man, and the many times they had been promised title to their lands, 
and the many times that the promises had been broken by the Great Father. 
His plea carried con\'iction to all except the spirits representing the govern- 
ment ;ind the Methodist Episcopal church, the said church having these 
Indians iiarticularlv under their supervision. The final result was a compro- 
luisc l)et\\een the contending parties, to the end that they agreed that the 
Indians should be classified according to their education, habits, ability to 
conduct their business affairs, as shown in the treaty. This designation was 
to be made by the Indian agent, and the interesting cjuestion then was, who 
w ill lie that agent. The white folks were desperately in favor of Brother Lo 
getting a clear title to his land, and he had good reason for his desire. There 
were about one hundred thousand acres of land, a large portion as fine as any 
in the state, and milli(Mis of splendid pine timber, with large amount of hard 
wood timber and all of it just coming to be Viorth good money. If this is 
all to be tied u]) by the Indian agent, it surely would be a calamity not to be 
tolerated, if there was any way to avoid it. On the other hand it was ex- 
pected that Richard M. Smith might be the agent who would make the desig- 
nation, and it was known that he was striMigly in faxor of limiting the num- 
ber of "competents." While the Indian and the white settlers were anxiously 
awaiting the time when the designation should be made, and the die cast, the 
vessel with Mr. Smith on board went to the bottom of Lake Huron and Mr. 
Smith was drowned. We think that ]\lr. Smith was a conscientious man 
and felt that if the title t(^ the lands were gix'en wthout reservation that it 



ISABELLA COUXTV, M II! 1 ICA X. 75 

would not he long before the lands would pass from under liieir (j\\nershi[) or 
control, and 1 am not sure but what he uas right. 

While this was transjiiring, another difticultv arose. I'nder the treaty f)f 
1855, there was a provision authorizing any Indian after live years from the 
ratitkation of the said treaty, in which they were authorized to select and 
locate lands for a hnmo, to enter lands within the reservation: this was con- 
Fined to Indians of this tribe. Conceiving that they might pnifit li\' that pro- 
vision, two of the Indians, Aufirew J. Compau and Charles 11. Rodd ( Cnited 
States inter]ireter), as soon as the treaty was signed at Isabella, saddled their 
horses and made haste for the L'nited States land office, then located at Ionia, 
Michigan, and ])rocee(lecl to enter some twehe thousand acres of the said 
reservation. These lands were entered principally for the pine and other tim- 
I)er ujjon said lands, which at this time was becoming very valuable. It will 
readily appear to any one knowing the ln<li;m's [jmclivity for spending his 
money very soon after he receives it, that neither of these Indians 
had money to enter these lands, and that some w bite genius must have been 
in the scheme, not only to furnish the money, but to have the various descrip- 
tions examined to kno'.v what was on the land, for at that time the land cf 
itself was of little value; so it appears that as soim as the certificates of selec- 
tion were made, a deed of the said lands was made, a part liy Andrew J. 
Comjjau and a part by Charles H. Rodd to one Frederick Ilall. of Ionia, 
Michigan. 

This complication called tor some heroic action on the part of the Indians : 
Init there did not seem to be any one who desired to take the initiative. Two 
or three meetings were called with the idea of uniting the said Indians on 
some ])rocedure to recover these lands, but the call was frustrated by the 
missionaiy stationed among the Indians. Then another scheme was insti- 
tuted, that was to get a few of the princijjal chiefs and the nn'ssionary to meet 
at the court house in Mt. Pleasant, and canvass the matter. They came, and 
Rev. George Bradley was made chairman. The i)iupose of the meeting was 
stated to be to get a hearing with the secretary of the interit)r or with the com- 
missioner of Indian affairs, and if ])ossible induce the L"nited States authori- 
ties to commence suit to annul the said selections, and the certificates issued 
by the register and receiver of the land office. The claim was that the action 
by the register and receiver exceeded their authority: that the clause in the 
treaty of 1833 was not available at that time, as a new treaty had been made 
in iSfq, and had been duly signed by the special commissioners of the l'nited 
States and the several chiefs and headmen of the bands of Chijjpewas of 
Saginaw. Swan Creek and Black River: that all it needed was the ratification 
of the Senate of the United States: that when so ratified the treatv would take 



76 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

effect from the day of its execution; that by the terms of the last treaty all 
of these lands were withdrawn from entry under the old treaty and were held 
subject to the provisions of the new treaty. 

After a short conference, Rev. George Bradley was selected to act as 
chairman of a committee of fi\-e. composed of himself and four of the prin- 
cipal Indians, they to go to Washington, procure an audience with the secre- 
tary of the interior and see what could be done. Money was raised for their 
transportation and expenses, and they went to headquarters, sought and ob- 
tained an audience with the secretary; stated their grievance; obtained and 
brought back with them the promise that the matter would be investigated and 
if found as represented that steps would be taken to annul the fraudulent 
entries and the land restored to its original status. The secretary carried out 
his promise, an investigation was made, a bill was filed in the United States 
court at Detroit, and on hearing a decree was granted annulling said selections 
and certificates to Charles H. Rodd and Andrew J. Compau. also the convey- 
ances by them to Frederick Hall. The decree wiped out the fraud and cleared 
the lands of the cloud, since which all of said lands have been selected and pat- 
ented to the Indians entitled thereto. 

INDIAN INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL. 

During the session of Congress in 1 890-1 Hon. A. T. Bliss, then a mem- 
ber of Congress from this district, secured the passage of a bill making pro- 
visions for the establishment of such a school, as follows : 

"An act for the construction and completion of suitable school buildings 
for Indian industrial schools in Wisconsin and other states. 

"Be it enacted bv the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, that the secretary of the interior be, 
and is herebv authorized and directed to cause one Indian industrial or training 
school to be established in each of the states of Wisconsin. Michigan and 
^Minnesota, at a cost not exceeding thirty thousand dollars for each school, 
said schools to be as near as practicable moulded on the plan of the Indian 
school at Carlisle. Pennsylvania : Provided, however, that no such school shall 
be established on any Indian reservation wherein Indians are located under 
an agent.'' 

It further provided that the buildings for the state of ^Michigan should 
be located in the county of Isabella. 

Seventv-five thousand dollars was appropriated, to be expended by the 
secretary of the interior for the purchase of suitable grounds and the erection 
of buildings, and for such other purposes as should be found necessary to carry 
out the purposes of the act. 



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ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHICAN. '"J 

The people of Isabella county, and especially the Indians, feel very grate- 
ful for the efforts of Colonel Bliss in securing this school, for without the ap- 
propriation we could not have hoped to locate one here. 

The interior department sent out its agent to secure a suitable site for 
such a school, and. after a good deal of examination and investigation of 
difTferent places for a site, they finally located on the present plot of ground, 
which lies just to the northwest of the city nt Mt. T'leasant, on a higli and 
commanding s|)iit of groimd, roiling and witii a good descent to the east and 
with sjjlendid drainage \.o the Chippewa ri\er. The first Iniilding erected for 
the school was built in 1892-3 and was completed on or about the ist of Jul\-, 
1893. 

The goNcrnment had anticiijated somewhat tlie building and completion of 
their building and had opened a school in the Commercial block in Mt. Plea- 
sant, w itli thirteen pupils as a nucleus for a larger attendance w ben their rooms 
should be ready for occujiancy. Dr. E. E. Riopel. as superintendent; Mrs. 
r<iopel. matron; Mrs. Quinn. laundress; Mrs. Josephine Ayling. cook; Mrs. 
Brul>aker. laundress; Miss Olie Lett, seamstress; Miss liolliday. a graduate 
from tlie Indian .school of Carlisle. Pennsyhania. as teacher: E. E. Xardin. as 
farmer, and Charles Slater, as carpenter. The rooms they occupied were not 
well adapted for such a purpose, but the\- remained, doing the best they could 
under the circunrstances. for alxuit two months, when they moved into a 
dwelling house on the farm which they had remodeled for the purpose, and 
remained there uiUi! the first of July, when they moved into their own builcl- 
ing. 

The first building erected was a brick structure. alK)ut one hundred and 
twenty feet by forty-five feet, two stories high with basement and attic, w hich 
was used as a dormitory, making the structure equivalent to a four-story 
building. They started with three horses and a light equipage of farming 
utensils. 

The growth of the institution has been marvelous, considering the com- 
mon sentiment in regard to the Indian and his education. 

L:ui(ls have been added to the first original purchase until now thev have 
three hundred and twentv acres, or half a section, being the east half of sec- 
tion 9 in township 14 north, range 4 west, Isal)ella county. 

Their outfit of buildings at the present time consists of eleven brick stnic- 
tures which are, one building oTie hundred and twenty feet by forty-five feet, 
with two full stories, a basement and an attic, all utilized; an assembly build- 
ing, eighty-five by forty-five feet, with one wing forty feet by forty feet and 
another wing fortv-five bv eightv-five feet, all two stories and basement; 



78 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

a girls' dormitory, ninety by ninety feet, two stories and basement : a bo\'s' 
dormitory of the same size and dimensions: a building for a dining room, 
domestic science, and bakery, with a capacity for three hundred students : a 
hospital building, thirty-five by forty-five feet, with basement : power house, 
fifty by forty-five, one story and basement, equipped with three boilers, engine 
and dynamo ; a laundry, forty-five by seventy-five, one story, fully equipped 
and sufficient for the needs of the school ; a storehouse, twenty-five by fifty, 
one story; an industrial building, including blacksmith shop, carpenter shop, 
tailor and shoe shop, also a I)and room ; a cluli house for the teachers and 
cook ; this is devoted to the use of the six lady teachers and the lady cook. 

There are also several wooden buildings, to wit : A barn, forty by one 
hundred and twenty-four feet; a store building, forty by fifty; a storage build- 
ing, thirty-two by fifty; driving shed, twenty-eight by one hundred; three 
cottages for the employees, viz: clerk, tailor, discijjlinarian and carpenter; an 
ice house, t\\-enty-four by thirt}- feet: a pigger}". twenty-two by eighty: a farm 
barn, forty by eighty, and a farm house, thirty by forty, for the assistant 
farmer; a dwelling for the night watch, upright sixteen by twenty-six. with 
a wing fourteen by twenty feet. 

This scho(.)l has had a marked effect upon the Indians of this and other 
counties in the state. Their numbers have steadily increased until they now 
average something o\'er three hundred students, which is the normal capacity 
of the school. Quite a number of the students have gradtiated and are now 
holding good positions in the government employ. As fast as they become 
proficient in the branches taught here, they may go to Carlisle, or, if sufliciently 
equipped, may seek employment in some other like institution, the government 
being at all times anxious that they should continue the work and thus stimu- 
late others to a better life than that which they were wont to live. Here 
they are remo\-ed to a large extent from their natural haunts and come in closer 
touch with a better ci\ilization. one that serves to change their environment 
and will in time modify their heredity. Knowing the tribal life of the Indian, 
one is surprised to see how soon the\' change to a large extent from their roving 
life to one of industry and good husl)andry. In their school all of the com- 
mon branches are taught, besides which they have domestic science and man- 
ual training. Many of them ha\-e good \-oices and become quite proficient 
in music. The school supports a good brass band, and they can play base 
ball and foot ball with proficiency. The government is doing what it con- 
sistently can to better the condition of a race that is fast disappearing and will 
soon be among the peoples that were, unless by the change in their habits and 
modes of li\ing the}' shall mercome the tendencx' to obliteration. 



ISABELLA COUNTV, MICHUJAN. 7y 

'riie suptTiineiidents tliat have at times cuiKlucted tlie husiiiess aiwl looked 
after the interests of tlie selinnl are. tirst. Dr. E. E. I\iiii)el ; tlien came Kndnev 
S. Graham, w lio was followed hy E. E. Nardin, and he by the present incum- 
bent, R. A. Cockran. The superintendent's salary at first was one thousand 
five hundred dollars ; this has been increased to one thousand seven hundred 
diillars. Tile teachers receive from six hundred to eis^lu hundred ami forty 
dollars. The clerk. J. ^^ • Baunian, who was formerly a student in the school, 
receives one thousand tlollars. Two assistant matrons, one assistant cook and 
the g;ardener are each graduates here, and John Williams, present farmer, and 
Samuel (iruett. disciplinarian, have each been students in the schncil. 

Charles Slater, carpenter, is the only person who has remained in the 
cnqjloy of the school ever since it opened, which speaks volumes for his effi- 
ciency and faithfulness. One thing the authorities of the school are to be com- 
plimented for is the ])reser\;ition of the forty acres of nati\-e forest situated 
just north of the plat on which the buildings arc located. It is one of the 
finest pieces of green timber in the county, in fact I doubt if another such can 
be found. There are about seven hundred nice hard maple trees on the plat 
and the school is guarding these trees with jealous care. 

It has been said by many that the Indian was a warlike creature, but we 
do not think tliat a])p!ies with much force to the Chii)])ewas of the ])resent 
(lav. The Indians liere Iiaxe been a peaceable people for se\eral generations 
at least. Yet, when our country was in need of soldiers to put down the 
Rebellion, none were more ready to enlist than the native American. We ha\e 
tried to obtain a full list of those enlisting. Init have been unable to procure 
one. We herewith present a partial list, secured direct from some of those 
who went into the service, and have personal knowledge : John Jackson, 
Thomas Smith, Dan Sun.shine (or Covert). Abram Brock (son of the great 
Chief Shaw-shaw-waw-naw-beese), James Gruett, William Chatfield, Charles 
Chatfield, John Waw-be-naw . George Corbin. .\mos Chamberlain. JNIarcus 
Otto, Joe Fisher, Samuel Fisher, Ke-go, William Westbrook, John Ch'itfield. 
William Kay-ne-go-me, William Isaac, Dan Ashman (a drumiuer), Dan Pay- 
mos-se-gay, Thomas Waw-be-naw, Sag-a-tup, James Quaw-be-way, John Col- 
lins ( sharpsliooter ) . J(ibnn\ Collins (sharpshooter), Xot-to-way. Peter 
Barnes, Peter Campau ( Sexenth Miciiigan Ca\alry), Lewis Pe-che-ka. Peter 
I'cnnett, Peter Jolms, John .\ndrew, .Mart Xe-omc. 

The story would not be complete without mention of another attempt 
made by tlmse wlm undertn'ik to despoil the Indian of his rightful possessions. 
During the time that the lands were held by the Hall interests, a bill was intro- 
duced in the Congress of the United States, inteniled to confirm title in Hall 



80 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

and his grantees. The bill was carefully and ingeniously drawn, and when 
it came up for action the question was propounded as to how much land was 
involved, and the congressman from this district flippantly replied, about one 
hundred and sixty acres. The answer, for some cause, was not satisfactory; 
action was postponed and the bill was never passed. The evasive or untruth- 
ful answer cost the congressman his oiifice, and he was not returned. 

Soon after the treaty of 1855, to-wit, in 1856, the Intlians commenced 
to move to their reservation in Isabella county. Some of them came by the 
way of St. Louis in Gratiot county, there being a few families living on the 
banks of the Pine river just below St. Louis; among them were the Gruets, 
Chatfields, Rodds, Bradleys, Lyons, Smiths, and others coming into the county 
by the pony route, packing upon the pony or upon their own backs all of their 
belongings. Others came into the county by the Chippewa river route with 
canoes, dug out of pine logs. Li these canoes they stored away all that they 
possessed, including the wife and pappooses: as one Indian expressed it, "the 
river was full of canoes, and we brought all that we possessed." They landed 
at or near what was afterward Isabella City, where the mill was built, made 
their selections of land under the treaty of 1855 and settled upon the same. 
They luiilt small wigwams out of birch bark or of logs, covered them with 
bark to keep out the inclement weather and proceeded to make some clearing, 
cutting down the timber and burning the same. It will be remembered that 
the lands were all covered with a dense growth of timber and underl)rush. 
Most of the older selections and settlement was made in the summers of 

1856-7. 

Their history is that most of the Indians cciming in those years were 
quite industrious, desiring to make a home on the reservation, and for four 
or five years made considerable improvement upon their lands. Not getting 
their patents at the end of their first five years, as they supposed they would, 
and the fact that the idea of making the reservation perpetual had become 
noised about among the Indians, their enthusiasm for clearing and subduing 
land that some shrewd or designing paleface should afterward reap the bene- 
fit of his hard labor began to abate and the longer it continued the less did 
poor Lo crave the job of enriching the white man by his voluntary labor ; so 
that they began again to neglect their clearing and improvement and many of 
them left their land to again seek a livelihood by hunting, fishing, trapping and 
the making of baskets by the female portion of the family, gathering the ma- 
terial for baskets and woven articles wherever most convenient. 

The Indians report that when they came to Isabella county in 1856-7 
there was an abundance of fish in the streams and lakes of the countv, and 




JACOB TIPSICO 
Chippeway Indian, Born in McCoiiil) County, Michigan, March 1, 1827 



ISABELLA LOr.NTY. M If 1 1 KiA.N . 8l 

great c|uaiitities of wild fowl in the timber and on the laUes, with deer, Ijear, 
mink, musk-rat, coon, heaver and fox in great plenty, with some wolves, wild- 
cat, lynx and pole-cat thrown in to gi\e flavor to the list. 

.\11 or nearl\' all of these have now passed away or been legislated beyond 
the reach of any one. except he desires to liask for a time in tiie county jail or 
take a trip to the workhouse in Detroit. 

The Indian is not supposed to have inherited anv great desire to work, 
but is accredited with having a great longing for lire-water. In this tiie sup- 
position is not altogether correct, for T think it can be truthfully said that the 
Indians who came to Isaliella under the said treaties were greatly above the 
average in their desire to be good, sober citizens and that but a small percent- 
age of them were addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors to excess. On 
the whole, they were a very quiet and peaceable class of citizens. 

The writer of this article has had mucli to do with the Indi.m in this 
county, having spent a great many days and nights in the timber in the earlv 
days of the settlement of the county, running out state roads and public high- 
ways, generally working with one white man and front eight to ten Indians. 
They make good chainmen and axe-men, as well as flagmen, in a surveying 
party. They were very good workers in the woods, cutting logs, and especial- 
ly good in driving logs down the river in the spring to their destination at 
Saginaw and Bay City. 

The Indians were possessed of guns for hunting at tlic time the\- came 
to Isabella: some had ponies, but no wagons or other con\eyance by land and 
only the ordinary dug-out canoe for transportation on the lakes and rivers. 
In employing them for work in surveying roads and for like work in the 
woods, they were not difficult to satisfy in the line of provisions: their lirst re- 
quirement when starting on a surveying tour through the forest was a goodly 
supply of tobacco and pipes: these were absolutely es.sential and nothing could 
take their jjlace. Xext was a sutificient supply of ham. bacon and bread or 
crackers: after that you could chink in almost anything of the eatable class 
and there would be no grumbling. In the treaty of 1855 there were made 
certain provisions for the education of the Indian children, and to carry out 
that portion of tlic trcatv se\eral school houses suitable for tb;U purpose were 
built. 

]r\ing E. Arnold had the contract in 1S58 to build four school houses 
to be used for the Indians, and as soon as they were completed teachers were 
secured to conduct them. These sciiools were continued for several years, 
w ith more or less success. The principal difficulty was in the poor attendance, 
w ith the further fact that as a rule the teacher did not understand the Indian 
(6) 



82 ISABELLA COUXTV. MICHIGAN. 

language and the children could not understand the teacher, with the further 
fact that as soon as the school closed for the day the child returned to its 
home, there to talk Indian until the school hour the next day. My observa- 
tion has been that but little benefit was deri\Td from the schools as then con- 
ducted. 

At a later date it was thought that the Indian was entitled to further con- 
sideration in the educational line and an attempt was made by some of the 
good citizens of Isabella county toward establishing an industrial school. 



CHAPTER V. 



ORGANIZATION OK ISABELLA COUNTY. 



The lands comprised witliin the houndaries of Isahella county were duly 
laid off hy an act of the Territorial Council in the year 1831, by "An Act to 
provide for laying off into separate counties, the district of country adjacent 
to Grand River, and for other purposes. 

"Be it enacted by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan. 

"Section 13. That the country included within the following limits, 
to-wit : west of the line between ranges 2 and 3 west; east of the line between 
ranges 6 and 7 west: south of the line between the townships 16 and 17, and 
north of the line between townships 12 and 13 north, containing sixteen town- 
ships, be and the same is hereby set off into a separate county, by the name 
of Isabella. 

"A])pr<)vcd March 2. 1S31."' 

The countv at this time was an unbroken wilderness of timber, de\'oid of 
inhabitants, white or Indian : up to this time !iot a tract of land, great or small, 
had been entered Ijy anyone. 

In the year 1853 an act was passed attaching Tsal)ella county to the county 
of Saginaw for certain purposes, to-wit : 

"Section 1. The people of the state of Michigan enact, tjiat the counties 
of Midland. Arenac. Gladwin. Isabella and Iosco, be and the same are hereby 
attached to the county of Saginaw, for judicial and representative i)m"])oses. 

"Sec. 2. The counties of (iladwin, .Arenac and Isabella be and the same 
are hereby attached to the township of Midland for the purposes aforesaid, 
and for the purposes of taxation, until set off and organized into other town- 
ships : and that the county of Iosco be and the same is hereby attached to the 
town.ship of Hampton, in the county of Saginaw . for like purposes. 

"Approved February 3, 1853." 

In this act there is no provision made for the return of any vote f)n any 
sul)ject, and it is evident that there were no settlers in the comity at that time. 
Further that no township had been organized in the county. 



84 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

The Legislature of 1855. by act No. 98, "An act to attach the counties of 
Isabella and Gladwin to the county of Midland for judicial and municipal pur- 
poses. 

"Section i. The people of the state of Michigan enact, that the counties 
of Isabella and Gladwin be and the same are hereby attached to the county of 
Midland for judicial and munici]3al purposes. 

"Sec. 2. All acts or parts of acts controvening the provisions of this act 
are hereby repealed. 

"Sec. 3. This act shall take efifect immediately. 

"Approved February 12, 1855." 

The same session of the Legislature organized the township of Coe in 
Isabella county. "No. 151. an act to organize the township of Coe, in county 
of Isabella. 

"Section i. The people of the state of Michigan enact, that the surveyed 
townships described as town 13 north, of range 3 west, and 14 north, of 3 
west, in tlie county of Isabella, lie and the same are hereby organized into a 
township by the name of the township of Coe, and the first township meeting 
therein shall be held at the house of Mr. Campbell, on section 17, in town 13 
north, range 3 west. 

"Approved February 13. 1855."" 

In 1859, bv act "No. 1 18, to-wit. an act to organize the county of Isabella : 

"Section i. The people of the state of Michigan enact, that the county 
of Isabella shall be organized, and the inhabitants thereof entitled to all the 
rights and privileges to which by law the inhabitants of other organized 
counties of this state are entitled. 

"Sec. 2. Provides for an election of county officers, to be held on the 
first Monday of A\m\. 1859, such officers to enter upon their duties on the 
first Monday in Alay, 1859. 

Sec. 3. Board of canvassers to meet at the house of John M. Hursh on 
the second Tuesday of April next after the said election, to canvass and de- 
clare the result of said election." 

In the same act the county of Clare was attached to the county of Isabella 
for municipal and judicial purposes, and to the township of Isabella for town- 
ship purposes. 

Approved February 11, 1859. 

An election was held as provided in section 2, the board of canvassers 
met according to requirement and canvassed the vote and declared Richard 



ISABELLA COl'NTV. MKllIGAN. 85 

Hoy elected as county treasurer. Irving V.. Arnold, clerk. Charles H. Rodd 
(Indian), sheriff. James Wilsey. judge of jirohate. Malcom D. Davis, county 
surveyor, and Xelson Mosher, prosecuting attorney. 

The first meeting of the Ix)ard of supervisors was held at the house of 
John M. Ilursh. on May 9, 1859. Supervisors Perry H. Estee, of Coe, X. 
C. Payne, of Chippewa, and A. G. Ferris, of Isabella, were present, they rep- 
resenting all of the then organized townships. 1. K. Arnold, county clerk, 
was clerk of the board, and V. TT. Estee was elected chairman. 

Their first official act was to appro\-e the bond of Richard Hoy. county 
treasurer: the second act was voting to Ijond the county for one thousand five 
hundred dollars for the relief of the destitute of the county. William 1\. 
Robhins, of Coe. was appointed agent to negotiate said bonds and purchase 
provisions, to he sold on time to the suft'ering and needy settlers. He was 
not to sell said bonds for less than seventy-five cents on the dollar. ;md h\- his 
report he used but fi\e hundred dollars and returned the balance into the 
treasury : Robbins w as instructed to take security, cither real estate or ap- 
proved notes, for the provisions he distributed, to lie made ])ayable on or l)efore 
two years. There was turnc<l into the treasury in notes the sum of four 
hundred ninety-eight dollars ;md ninety-eight cents. After allowing wolf 
bounties to Isaiah Ah-pwa-qua-naw, John Pe-boom and Abram Ah-ne-mah- 
hong, and a few minor accounts, they proceeded to fix the salaries of the county 
officers, as follows: The county treasurer, from .May ist to January ist, 
fifty dollars, and from January i. 1860, to January i. 1861. three hundred and 
fifty dollars. County clerk, from May i. 1859, to January i. 1861, three 
hundred dollars. Prosecuting attorney, for his full term, one hundred and 
fifty dollars. The board then fixed the time for a meeting with the board of 
Midland county for the purpose of making a settlement on account of Isabella 
county ha\ing been annexed to the county of Midland for municipal and 
judicial purposes and for the purposes of taxation. The time set for such 
meeting was December 13. 1859. .\ meeting was held as provided, which 
resulted as follows: "Midland City. Michigan. January 4. 1860. Minutes of 
a joint meeting of the supervisors of the counties of Midland and Isabella, at 
the treasurer's office of Midland county. The board came to order at one 
o'clock P. M. ; present from Isabella county, Coe, P. H. Estee, Chippewa. X. 
C. Payne: from Midland county. Charles D. Searrin. Samuel D. Gaskill and 
Sylvester Krway; chairmen. Charles D. Searrin and P. H. Estee. .\t fi\e 
o'clock the board took a recess until after su])])er. The board came to order 
at seven o'clock, members all present. It is hereby agreed and resolved by the 
board of supervisors of Midland and Isabella counties, now in joint session. 



86 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

that for the purpose of effecting a settlement in full of all accounts and de- 
mands between said counties to this date, that the county of Midland shall 
account to the state for all of the state tax lialile to be paid by Isalaella cmmty 
for the vear 1839 and i860, and that the above shall be in full as a settlement 
by and l>et\veen said counties. Provided, the above resolution shall in no 
way effect a settlement between the said county of Midland and the several 
towns of Isabella county, but the same shall 1)e accounted for and paid over 
by the said treasurer of Midland county to the several towns of the county 
of Isabella according to law. 

"Dated at Midland City, Januaiy 4, i860. 

"Charles D. Searrin. (L. S.) 

"Sylvester Erw.ay. (L. S.) 

"Samuel D. Gaskill. (L. S.) 

"In behalf of Midland County. 

"P. H. ESTEE. (L. S.) 

"N. C. Payxe. (L. S.) 

"In behalf of Isabella County. 

"Upon motion, the board adjourned without day. 

"Irving E. Arnold, 

"Clerk of Isabella County." 

The place selected by the commission appointed by the governor was at 
the geographical center of the county. There was no settlement there what- 
ever, not so much as an Indian, the nearest settlement being on section 22, 
township 14 north, range 4 west, just on the south side of Mt. Pleasant. The 
land on which the county seat was located was not bought from the United 
States until December 15, 1855. 

REMOVAL OF COUNTY SE.AT. 

On October 10, 1859, the board of supervisors met in regular session at 
the center and, after transacting the October business, adjourned until the 
second Tuesday of January, i860. 

On January 10, i860, they met pursuant to adjournment, and after trans- 
acting some business, adjourned to the 20th of February. After allowing 
some bills and a couple of wolf bounties, they adjourned till the next day. 
when the following resolution was offered by P. H. Estee : "Resolved by the 
board of supervisors of Isabella county, that the following described piece or 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIC.AX. 87 

parcel of laud he and hcrel)y is designatc<l 1)\ this hoard tor tlie location of the 
county seat of this county, as proposed to he remo\ed. as pro\i<U'd l)y law , to- 
wit : Bejjinning at the center of section 15, in township 14 uortli, range 4 
west, state of Michigan, from thence running northerly forty rods, along the 
state road running from John M. 1-lursh's to the Indian Mills, and Ijounded 
westerly hy said road, thence east twenty rods, thence southerl\ forty rods, 
and hounded easterly hy a line running parallel with said state road, thence 
west to the place of heginning, containing ti\'e acres of land more or less. Said 
resoluliiin was duly carried l)y a two-thirds vote, .\fter tiie ])assage of said 
resolution, it was then pro\ided that the proposition should he suhmitted to 
the rpialified electors of the county at the April election of i860. The county 
clerU' was directed to post notices of such election and the purpo.se of the same 
in all of the townships in said county. 

'■.\fter the election a special meeting of the said hoard of supervisors was 
called to meet at the Isabella center for the purjiose of canvassing the votes. 
The hoard met on the loth day of Ma}-. iS()0. The hoard then consisted of 
William 1\. Rohhins. of Coe. X. C. Pa\ne. of Chippewa, and Charles H. Rodil 
( Indian), for Isabella. The canvass resulted as follows: For the removal. 
I.sahella. yes. 86. noes. 87: Coe, yes, 54, noes. 14; Chippewa, 16 for and '2 
against, making a majority in favor of removal of fifty-three votes. The fol- 
lowing resolution was unaninioush' adojjted ; 'Resolved, 1)\' the board of 
supervisors of Isabella count)-, that the count}- seat of said county is hereliy 
remo\-ed. and b\- this act is estaljlished and located at the point designated by 
the boiud of supervisors of this county. Februai"}- 21. i860, said point being 
near the center of section 15. in township 14 north, range 4 west, state of 
Michigan. 

"W. R. RoBBi.xs. Chairman. 

"Irvinc; !•". .\i<\oi.i). Count}- Clerk." 

The census of the county at this time, as taken b}- M. 1). Davis, was one 
thousand four hundred and forty-one, about one-half .American and one-half 
Indian. The nun-iber of votes cast at the said election for and against the 
removal of the county seat would indicate that nearly the entire vote was 
cast. David Ward, the person who owned the lands on which the county seat 
was located and on which the city of Mt. Pleasant was afterward located, had 
much to do with the removal from the center of the county. lie donated to 
the Indians seventeen and one-half acres of land ow the southeast quarter of 
the mjrthwest cpiarter of section 15, town 14 north, range 4 west, the i)lace 
where the south half of the city park is now located, and also several lots to 



88 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

different Indians who were supposed to have considerable inHuence w ith the 
Indians. It was a good scheme, for the reason that tlie present lijcation of 
the capital of the county is much better than the one at the center, where there 
is no river, lake or stream of any kind ; whereas the present location has a very 
desirable water privilege on the Chippewa river, has fine boating facilities, and 
the plat is comparatively level and of a light sandy soil, most of it easy of 
drainage and devoid of mud. Mr. Ward further promised that if the county 
seat was moved to his lands at Mt. Pleasant, he would build a court house 
and donate it to the county. It was built according to promise and was com- 
pleted. On the 1 2th day of July, i860, the board of supervisors met at Mt. 
Pleasant and after organizing, they proceeded to inspect the court house and 
accept the same, also to accept the job of clearing and grubbing one and one- 
half acres of land on the court square, which had been let to W. H. Nelson at 
one hundred and forty dollars and one hundred and fifty dollars for measuring 
one and one-half acres. 

At the same session I. E. Arnold was paid for transcribing the records 
affecting this county which had been made at ^Midland county when Isabella 
was attached to that county for municipal and judicial purposes. The first 
pavment was sixty-six dollai-s for transcribing si.x hundred folios of records 
and afterward thirty dollars for completing the same. 

The first county order was issued to M. D. Davis for services in drawing 
a jurv ; the amount was seventy-five cents, written on legal cap paper, and was 
as follows : 

■■$00.75. Treasurer of Isabella coimty, pay to M. D. Davis or bearer 
75-100 dollars out of money in your hands raised for incidentals. Isabella 
Center, October nth, 1859. 

"P. H. ESTEE, 
"Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. 

"I. E. Arnold, Clerk." 



CHAPTER VI. 

EARLY REMINISCENCES AND INCIDENTS. 

There are many little incidents of early history that can hardly he e.K- 
pected to find their way into a general history and therefore must seek a place 
in the little incidents that occur as the days go by. 

Going back to 1854-5, at the time that the very first settlers made their 
way into this then dense wilderness of timber, we find the pioneers laboring 
under many great hardships and privations. .\t first there were no roads, no 
.stores, no mills, no postofifice. so that when the first slock of provisions was 
exhausted there was no place near by whei"e they could be replenished. Maple 
Rapids, or Fish Creek, was the nearest and that was not less than forty nfiles 
distant, and through the forest at that. 

Thither were they compelled to go for some time for supplies, as well as 
•for mail and to mill. A journey over the trail at that time gave them lots of 
time for reflection and on one of their tours Dan Brickley and John Stewart 
with one other, purchased a hand grinder with which they could grind their 
corn into meal and their wheat and rye into flour. This mill they rented to 
their neighbors for their use at one shilling per bushel. Some, either for want 
of the price or for other reasons, did not use the i)ony mill, but resorted to a 
more primitive manner of obtaining the same results, namely, by using a 
coffee mill, and William Payne and John Fraser. being artists with a jack 
plane were able to keep the family going by shaving the corn from the cob 
with their jack plane (and this when Fraser had six hundred dollars in gold 
in the house), and Charles Taylor made a trough out of a black ash log. fast- 
ened an iron wedge into a hand sjiike and with that beat the corn into meal 
and the good wife made the meal into what they called a black-ash Johnny 
cake. Who will say that the cake was not wholesome, aye delightful? 

INDEPENDENCE DAY CKLKBRATIONS. 

Our first settlers were not all savages, for it is recorded that as early as 
March 25, 1855, in a log house, the residence of Eber Hamilton. Charles 
Ta)lor preached the first sermon ever preached in the county, and it is said 
that it was a genuine good old fashioned Metiiodist sermon. 



90 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAX. 

In that same year tlie Fourth of July was celebrated at the house of 
William B. Bowen. 

The next celebration of the Fourth of July was had in 1861 at the house 
at Salt River. X. C. Payne was president of the day. Hon. P. H. Estee. 
reader, and Hon. Xelson Mosher. orator. A pole was raised which was one 
hundred and twenty feet high and remained there until the night of the assassi- 
nation of President Abraham Lincoln, when it blew down. The following 
ladies prepared a handsome flag and hoisted it themselves, to-wit : Mrs. 
James Campbell. Mrs. D. D. Burham. Mrs. H. O. Bigelow, Mrs. James Wil- 
sey, Mrs. William R. Robbins and Mrs. P. H. Estee. There were present at 
this celebration about one thousand persons, great and small, which wnuld he 
about all of the people of that vicinity. 

FIRST THINGS. 

The perpetuation of the race as well as the peopling of a ci)unt\- is a mat- 
ter of prime importance and one worthy to be preserve<l in the annals of 
history. There has been some controversy as to who was the first born in the 
county and we ha\-e in\-estigated the matter quite fully with the result that the 
first male child born was Adelbert Re^-nolds and the first girl was Mary .\.- 
Fanning. h(ini May 5, 1855, with a close second in Isaliella Hursli. born in 
June, 1855, and Isabella. Campbell, born August 20, 1855. 

The first marriage ceremony was performed by \\'. H. Stewart, a justice 
of the peace, who received coon skins for his fee ( how man\- he recei\ed is 
not stated) and the act was performed upmi Daniel Robinson and Jane Foutch. 
On the same day it is claimed that David Foutch was married to Agnes, 
daughter of William B. Bowen. The pace set on that day has continued ever 
since, with ever increasing celerity, until now we number from two hundred 
and ten to two hundred and forty each year. This splendid showing in the 
line of domestic felicity is a trifle marred by the fact that from sixteen to 
twenty-four divorces are granted each year. And yet. to those who believe 
that no divorces should be granted, it may seem large : to those who belie\-e 
that mismated ])eoi)le should not be compelled to live together in perpetual 
unhappiness, it is not so large. 

MAIL ROUTES AND POSTOFFICES. 

In any civilized community of today the facilities for the transmission 
of news is verv much desired if not demanded. Therefore at an earlv date in 



ISABELLA COUNTV, MICIIICAX. 9I 

the setllcinent ni lsal)clla \\c Ihul this imicli desired object acliieved h_\- the 
establishment of a mail route from St. Louis in Gratiot county to Salt River, 
in Isabella, and the establishment of a postoffice at Salt Riser, witii William 
R. Rol)l)ins as postmaster. The oflice was opened on tiie Htii day of .\ugusl, 
1857. .\l3<iut the same time Joel Drake, wlio lixed near tiie nortliwest cornei" 
of Coe townshi]), was made ])oslmaster of a postoffice established thci'c. c;dlcd 
W'iota. Xot long after these were established the route was e.xtended to the 
John M. Hursh residence, just south of here on what was then known as the 
Ihnsh farm; the office was called XewAlbany and J. M. ilursh was its post- 
master. Xot long afterward the route was contiinied still farther iiortli to the 
t"hiii]iewa ri\er where the village of Isabella City was located, where a post- 
office was established and F. C Bebbitt made postmaster. 

The first mail was brought into the county by a carrier on foot, and came 
from the sotuh through Gratiot count)- to Salt River, thence nortii and west 
to W'iota and on west and north to Xew Albany and iJience north to Isabella 
City and there stopped for several years. 

.\fter the organization of the county and the establishment of the ccjunty 
seat at Mt. Pleasant, several attempts wei'e made to ha\e the postoffice de- 
partment establish an office at the county seat, but without a\ail. 

All such matters were sent to the congressman from this district, who 
was at that time a resident of Saginaw. All such importunities were entirely 
ignored or sent to the nearest postoffice. which w'as Isabella City, and there 
pigeonholed. The time came when the congressman needed to be renomi- 
nated or remain at home. He then became approachable and aiLxious, so 
much so that he made a visit to ^It. Pleasant to tix up his fences; l)ut he found 
the bars all down and no one to put them up or to keep them up if they were 
l)ut up. and when he went out to view the o])en space he found posted over 
the barway the following legend: ".Vo i)ostoftice; no votes." He took the 
hint and in a lew tlays Mt Pleasant was the proud possessor of a postoffice 
and Milton iiradley was pcjstmaster. The salary was small, but the accommo- 
dations great. Mt. Pleasant was happy over her new acquirement and the 
congressman happy over the votes that he received. 

DETERMI.NKD TO MARRY. 

The tirst piece of land was entered Xoxember 2X. 1851. I)y .Money Rust. 
This piece of land was not soon settled upon, but remained wild until i860, 
when Aloney Rust sold it to his brother, Ezra Rust, .\fter the purchase of 
Ezra and in i8r>o. he ilesired to know what he had gotten for his monew so 



92 ISABELLA COUXTY, MICHIGAN. 

he and a friend rigged up a team of horses, attached them to a hght two-horse 
wagon and, putting in their saddles and their provisions for a week's journey, 
they started for the woods. Arriving at the quarter house and not heing able 
to go farther with their rig. they stripped their horses of their harness, put 
on their saddles and started out. After having been out for several days and 
on returning, they found that their wagon and harness had departed. On 
making due inquiry, they learned that a couple from Isabella City, being over 
■ desirous to become married, had saddled a couple of ponies and started out 
in search of a minister or justice of the peace who could relieve their distress; 
had found that horse-back riding in a wilderness was not the most pleasant 
pastime so they unsaddled their ]iiinies, donned the harness of Rust, hitched 
the ponies onto the wagon, seated themselves and drove for Midland. Arriv- 
ing there in safety, they soon found the proper official, who joined them for 
better or for worse. They then sent the ponies and wagon back to the place 
from whence they got them and went on their way rejoicing. The wagon re- 
turned in good season and Air. Rust now tells the story with a good degree 
of zest. 

didn't relish his bed. 

There are some ludicrous things that liappen in a new and woolly country 
as this was in the early days. There was to be a dance in a distant part of 
the county and at the appointed time the merry participants began to congre- 
gate for the occasion. It so happened that it was not a prohibition place and 
the spirits soon became over jubilant, so much so that one, at least, lost him- 
self to the pleasures of this world and became oblivious to time and his sur- 
roundings, so the other spirits deemed it but proper that he be made comfort- 
able and safe from harm. In looking about for a suitable place, they dis- 
covered that it was hog-killing time and that a large porker was lying just 
outside the partition of the dance hall, and in a place that was convenient so 
that they might visit it occasionally and see that no harm came to their sub- 
ject. So they lifted the subject, carried him to the spot and there deposited 
him inside of the porker that lay with outstretched arms to receive him. 
There he lay till the morning dawn, when, on awaking, he discovered his place 
and companionship. Naturally he felt humiliated and he resolved to ha\e re- 
dress for the great wrong done to a human being. So he started for a place 
where he could obtain the redress he felt he was entitled to. Arriving at the 
office of the proper officer, he demanded in imperious and ineloquent terms for 
a warrant for the miscreants who had humiliated him. The officer very meekly 
asked who it was that he wanted the warrant for and his reply was neither 



ISABELLA COUNTV, MICHIGAN. 93 

elegant nor genteel, luit still it g<i\e tlie oFticer no grouiul tn wmk uijimi ami 
again he inquired who it was that he de.'^ired the papers for. and again the 
party was abusive and gave the officer nothing but the vilest slang and abuse 
and so much so that the officer lost his patience in the turmoil and, seizing a 
shovel used for remox'ing ashes from an old fashioned box stove, aimed a i)l()w 
at the intruder, wliich caused him to Hec to his rig and escape toward iiis home. 
The officer, feeling the dignity of his office insulted, swore out a warrant, put 
it in the hands of the sheriff and he with a deputy started in pursuit of the 
fleeing offender. After a long chase, they finally corralled the culprit, arrested 
antl l)rouglit him l)ack to answer to a charge of a breach of the peace. He 
was tried and convicted and fined twenty-five dollars. lie paid the tine and 
departed a wiser if not a better fellow. 

SEEKING JUSTICE AMIO DI 1-FICULTIES. 

'I'here was a time back in the sixties wlien a considerai)lc numljcr of 
families were on the verge of starvation. They had lost what little of their 
crops thev had attempted to raise and in the spring they were compelled to 
subsist upon wild leeks and maple sugar, with hut very little of anything else. 
At one of these times there was a ccmtroversy lietween a cou])le of these set- 
tlers, which the\- undertook to lia\e settled in a justice court. The suit was 
brought and came on for trial. The court was held in a small room in the 
old court house and was presided over by a worthy justice who probably, 
liefore such honors were forced upon him, had acquired the habit of taking a 
quiet smoke, ostensibly to brighten his intellect for the occasion. Now if 
you have a very imaginatixe mind you can ])robabIy conceive of the delectal)le 
condition of the atmosphere of the room where there was no more ventilation 
than in Xoah's ark, with a fair amount of heat radiating from a box stove 
fire, connected w itli the breath of a room full of stomachs loaded with leeks 
and maple sugar gulping u]) gas. intermingled with smoke from a much-used 
pipe, loaded with some costly tobacco, intermingled with the fumes of the 
poor cigars of the time, you can appreciate the ])leasure of one who was obliged 
to undergo the ordeal. 

SQUAB ItlNTlNG. 

Did vou ever eat squab? Did you e\er hunt squab? If you did not. you 
can hardly say that you have feasted on the fat of the land in which you live. 
In an earlv dav the woods were full of the wild pigeon, and aliout 1870 they 
appeared here for the last time. Their roo.st was in the east part of Mecosta 



94 ISABELLA COLNTV, MICHIGAN. 

county. Seeing the pigeons going and coming each day in flocks of thousands. 
a party started from Mt. Pleasant and made their way west on an Indian 
trail and road, following the line of the pigeons' flight until they came to the 
roost proper, where they arrived just before dark. It was an interesting sight 
to see the thousands of birds coming from e\'er3' direction to their nesting 
place and to hear them swoop and swirl through the l>ranches of the tall trees. 
seeking out their proper home and family, bringing with them the food gath- 
ered during the hunt of the day. Gathering a few sc^uabs before it was too 
dark to seek out the nest, the party built a fire of sticks and brush and after 
cleaning the little beauties proceeded to impale them upon sharp sticks and 
roast them in the fire until the scent of the frying meat was too much for a 
famished cannibal and then they proceeded to devour the delicious morsels. 
This was continued until all of the captured birds were dispatched, when a 
bed was made on the ground under the trees where the pigeons were roosting, 
and there they lay down for the night. All went well until about daylight 
when the buzz and whir of the birds going out upon their hunt for food for 
themselves and their young became too exciting for further sleep, for the 
hunters also must be up and doing in order to secure a sufficient number of 
squabs for a breakfast, together with a few to carry home to their families. 
This job was soon accomplished and after a repast such as a king might be 
proud of, the horses were saddled and the home journey entered upon. All 
day the air was full of the faithful pigeons on their pilgrimage for food. 
This roost was the last in this section and substantially the last of the wild 
pigeon. For many years none have been seen migrating north in the spring 
or south in the fall and today they are extinct so far as can be ascertained. 
Who can tell the cause of their disappearance from off the face of the earth? 
We say extinct, for the reason that large bounties have been ofifered by several 
parties for the recovery of a single pair of the once plentiful wild pigeon and 
so far as we are informed no one has succeeded in furnishing anv of those 
beautiful birds. 

.\ PLUCKY WOMAN. 

On one occasion in the early si.xties a young woman was left with two 
small children to do the work at home, while the husband had gone to the 
front to fight the battle for freedom and had left a patch of turnips and also 
a small field of potatoes to harvest. No help could be had, so she was com- 
pelled to go into the field and pull the turnips and dig the potatoes with the aid 
of the oldest boy, a lad of nine. They harvested the crop and then sold 
seventy-five bushels of the turnips for twenty cents a bushel. 



ISABEI.I.A COLXTV, MICHIGAX. 95 

These were used by many oi the fatnihcs as tlieir staple food. The bal- 
ance was fed to the stock, as there was no hay in tlie settlement at the time and 
the stock was compelled to browse upon the brush and limbs in the woods. 
The hard work and exposure in the field and in caring for the stock in winter 
caused a felon to ap])ear on the woman's hand and. after four days and nights 
of intense pain and suffering, she started one starlight night for tlie doctor's 
house, some two and one-half miles away, following the trail through the 
woods, timid and fearful of meeting some ferocious wild animal, as the forests 
contained at that time many bear, some wolves, catamounts and occasionally 
ivnx. Fortune faxored tlie hra\e woman and after a long tramp she arrived 
at the doctor's residence about three o'clock in the morning and she rapped at 
his door. He soon appeared, invited her in and after examining the hand, 
probed it WMth a lance and relieved the pain and after applying some soothing 
applications she felt relieved and started back to her little ones at home. 

At another time, not long after the above incident, a family living in the 
forests of Isabella, whose ])arents resided in western New York state, the 
wife learned that her parents had sold their farm and were coming to Isabella. 
It was in the month of March and they had made their journey by rail to 
the then \illage of St. Johns, some forty-five miles distant from the home of 
her daughter, and, coming into the county by wagon over the corduroy and 
mud roads of the countr\-. on arriving were \ery niucii wearied and nearly 
exhausted so that it seemed necessary that the old lady at least should have a 
good strong, soothing cup of tea. She did not know that tea in the wilder- 
ness was a great luxury. The daughter knew, however, that her mother 
would expect it. but what could she do? There was nothing left, as it seemed 
to her. but procure the tea. The nearest store was at Salt River, so she donned 
her bonnet and shawl and started out for the beverage. It was a long journey 
to walk six miles and more in the month of March, but she made the trip and 
returned with the article, made the tea and her mother enjoyed it very much. 
She remarked that she thought that she must have some very good neighbors 
that she should sta\- so long and visit, or else they must be a good ways off. 

In the year '61, I remember it well, 

Wp (•••uiip to the .MichisriUi forests to dwell. 

No sigiis that the white man hafl .vet passed that way 

Where Natni-e. most ininiitive. fnlly held sway. 

First a few trees were felled and a small space was cleared 

Where a little lop-cabin was speeilily reared. 

With just one small window to let in the light. 

.\nd a woodcn-liinfKMl door that we m.ide fast at nijrht. 

We lironcht with lis lieddins. a stove and some food, 

.\nd the .-ixe — most important — our chief ally stood: 

We were then younf; and healthy, with courage quite keen. 

Though Indians and wild beasts were frtipiently seen. 



I 



96 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



The opening aronnd us grew broader each day, 
Letting in the blue sky and the snnlighfs bright ray, 
Then the birds came to greet us and sing "ujiing the leaves 
And build tiny nests 'ueath the cabin's low eaves. 

Other settlers came in and took up a claim 
And the township received then its first legal name. 
Which was Lincoln, and passable roads were cut through 
Where each built his eablu and started anew. 

Then the women found time to make calls — I should say — 
Going oft in the morning and staying all day; 
With knitting in hand they thought it no labor 
To walk a few miles to visit a neighbor. 

It may interest you to know how we made 
Our pastry and puddings fi-om things that we had; 
But the maxim was just as true tlu^n as to-da.v 
That "where there's a will, there's always a way." 

We made good miuce pies without apples or meat, 
And the elder bush furnished us berries to eat. 
Baked in pie, with a few leaves of sorrel to sour it. 
You would know it was good had yuu seen us devour it. 

Our cookies and cakes would just take the lead. 
Made of nice maple sugar and caraway seed, 
Cut out with a teacup or fashioned by hand. 
Our pioneer cakes were the best in the hind. 

From barley and i]eas nicely roasted and ground 
A fine cup of coffee could always be found: 
It wasn't quite Mocha and Java, 'tis true. 
But preferable far to to-day's I'ostum brew. 

Some used the wild strawberry leaves for their tea. 
And the white inner barlv of the fragrant pine tree: 
Its medicinal virtue no tea can excel 
And the use of it dail.v kept each of them well. 

How well I remember our first home-grown foods — 
Cucumbers and turniiis grown there in the woods, 
And tame, juicy berries, delicious and sweet, 
We now had abundance of good things to eat. 

If a wood-liee was planned all the men turned out strong 
And women and children of course went along: 
Each carried a basket or pail full of dinner 
And made no distinction between saint or sinner. 

But all joined together: and while the men worked. 
We women just \isited — never one shirked 
In doing her share of the talking and greeting 
That made of that day an experience meeting. 

Well, times somewhat changed as the .vears rolled between 
When fine farms .appeared, and nice homes were seen. 
And fashion crept in according to station. 
And visits were made only by invitation. 

Some even dropped out — I am sorr.v to say — 
And became more exclusive, like scune are toda.v. 
While a spirit of rivalr.v if not of .strife 
Drove out of our midst the old simple life. 



ISABELLA CDLNTV, MICHUiAN. 97 

There is one more experieiioe I will expliiiii 
Thoufrli I never sliiiiild wisli to expl.iin it .-i^iiiin. 
The time for tlie wateh-meetinc service drew near 
To wjiteh out the old nud to jireet the New Ye:ir. 

I Inid never iittended m nieetin;; like this. 
And tli(iu;rht it was soni"tliinjr I on;;ht not to miss. 
Though, to tell just the truth. I didn't feel right 
In le.ivin^ m.v husband and children at niKlit. 

But a neiirhhor. his wife, .ind anuthcr dear friend. 
Who had alwa.vs .accustomed Iheniselves to attend. 
Had said they would call for me if 1 would so. 
And so I di'iided 1 would not .say no. 

'Tw.as a hitler ccilil nit:lit-\vilh an old open sleisrh 
r>r.iwn liy oxen, and lilled in with straw or with hay, 
Willi hl.anUets for rohes to protect from the slorm. 
Wliicli were quite insuMicicnt in keepins: ns warm. 

Then the slow jiace hes.an. for some three miles lielow. 
To the Chippewa schoolho\ise where we had to go. 
It seemed we would never the meetiniiiilace reach. 
Or hear ait.v sermon the i;ood man niisht preach. 

Rut we reaehiHl there at last, with no time to spare. 
Quite chilled from the ride in the cold, frost.v air. 
The .stove jiave out warmth most grateful to .-ill. 
But no seats were provided except near tin- w.all. 

So I sat in a corner, a heiich for a seat. 

.\nd the cracks in the floor save no warmth to my feet. 

"Twas a small consresation with only a few 

Who h.ad r.illicil t<p aid in the work there to do. 

I |i;itiently listened to hear what was said: 
The.v .sans a short hynm. then the minister read 
A portion of Scripture, and two nr three prayed. 
When the minister urged them to not he afraid 

But to speak a few words, some experience to give 
.Vncl tell the friends present the risht \^ay to live. 
.Tust then something r.iu down my shoulder .and dropped 
And out of my lap a poor fiunished mouse hoiiiied. 

Well, the first exclamation I made then and there. 
It wasn't appropriate, was not a pra.ver. 
-Vnd if ever I save sr.itefnl thanks it was when 
The minister said, 'Ilaiiiiy .New Year — .\men." 

— Mrs. Kt.LEX WoonwoRTii. 

XOTES FROM AX OLD-TIME DIARV. 

.April 13. 1862.— Afen to get dinner for and no liread in the lioiise and no 
salaratiis. So I must send to tlie neigIilM)rs and borrow a little. So I send to 
the nei,a;hlH)rs and receive the distressing intelligence that they are entirely out 
and have no money to buy w ith. Then I send to another and she says she has 
onlv a little and can't spare ;in\. Prcttv soon in comes a small box- and savs. 
' (7) 



98 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Ma wants to borrow some salaratus, your sieve and some salt; she says she 
is all out and Pa can't spare the time to go to the store. So I send the sieve 
and the salt and console myself that I am no worse off than my neighbors. 
I am glad to know that there is one thing that never becomes empty and that 
is the mending basket, so I console myself that if I can't do anything else I 
can patch. 

ANOTHER BRIGHT SPOT IN THE OASIS. 

April 14, 1862. — It is sugar-making time and we sugared off today. 
Have made so far one hundred and eighty pounds and expect to make at least 
fifty pounds more. It is of good quality and is the only kind that we have or 
expect for some time to come. The sap is caught in troughs which are made 
out of logs cut the right length, split in two and then hollowed out with an 
axe to a .sufficient depth to hold a pail of sap. The sap is gathered into pails 
and carried to the boiling place by men or put into barrels, placed upon a sleigh 
and hauled to the boiling place by a horse or teauL There it is stored in a 
large tank until ready to boil. An arch is made of sticks and clay laid up in 
an oblong manner, the walls plastered with clay mortar ; the boiling pan is 
placed on top of the wall and a fire built under the pan and continued until the 
clay is thoroughly baked, when it becomes as hard as a rock. The sap is then 
placed in the boiling pan and a steady fire kept burning until the water is 
largely evaporated and the product becomes- syrup, when it is sugared off if it 
is sugar; if you desire otherwise, it is bottled up as syrup. The process and 
the apparatus for converting the sap into syrup or sugar is primitive and rude 
in construction, but it answers the purpose. It is all enjoyed by young and 
old and when other sugar is not to be had it is a great blessing, especially 
as it is worth one shilling per pound and can be used in trade for other arti- 
cles of necessity in the family. It also many times saves the silverware and 
other heirlooms from being disposed of to purchase necessities for the family. 
It went quite a ways toward buying tea at two dollars per pound, wheat, 
three dollars a bushel, calico, twenty to fifty cents a yard, hay thirty-five dollars 
per ton. and oats one dollar per bushel. 



St. Johns was nearest trading post and railroad and it took five days to 
make the trip with an ox team and there were none other in the count}', the 
freighters charging three dollars per hundred pounds for cartage. 

There are many bright places in a woods life and they were not wanting 
up here. In 18^4 there was a quarterly meeting to be held at Nippesing 
church, or mission, so ten of the settlers, five men and fi\e women, procn.red 



ISABKI,LA COUNTV, MICIIIGAX. 99 

Indian ponies and saddles and made a pilgrimage tn tiie church, tolluwing the 
Indian trail throngh the woods. Arriving, we foinid the btiilding packed to 
overflowing with Indian women and men. with Rev. George Bradley as their 
preacher. The text has passed from my memory, hut it was a good sermon, 
preached in English and interpreted into the Indian hy an Indian and. all in all, 
it was very impressive. The singing was good and sounded peculiar to an 
ear that was not accustomed to the soft mellow voice of the native. All sing- 
ing was in the Indian language and at the end of the preaching services the 
rite of baptism was administered to ahout twenty Indian babies and two 
Indian women. English names were given to the babies as they were baptized. 
The services over, we all m< muted our ponies an<l liled home thmngh the 
forest, \ery much enjoying our day's outing and the services of the meeting. 

EARI.V SETTLEMKNT OF ISAUELLA COLXTV. 

.As early as 1851, Alony Rust located the southwest quarter of section 4, 
in township 15 north, range 3 west, and soon thereafter a few others entered 
lands, but none of them for permanent settlement until about the loth day of 
October, 1854, when Daniel Bricldey. John Stewart. .Andrew F. Childs. James 
\\'ilsey, Daniel Childs. James Campbell. George Rcasoner. Charles F. A'oung 
and M. J. Hall entered each a quarter section of land under the graduation 
act. at hfty cents jier acre, for the purpose of settlement. Most if not all nf 
them soon thereafter settled upon their jiurchases and began to impro\e the 
same. 

.\bout the first of November of that year, the lirst road was cut from the 
south line of the county north to Salt River, at the center of section <;. l)y 
William B. Bowen. William .\dams. James Shephers, J. B. Walton. George 
and Dow Greenfield, William B. Bowen dri\ing the first horse team and wagon 
as far as Salt River. The next day Jacob Aliddaugh, W. W. Middaugh and 
John Hendershot came over the same road with an ox team, and cut a road 
on through to section i in the same township. These, it must be remembered, 
were but trails through the woods, the country being covered with a hea\y 
growth of hardwood timber, with the usual concomitant of swamp, creek, 
high and low lands, underbrush and fallen timber, in fact, nearly everything 
tending to make life miserable for the early settler. 

On November 21. 1854, Josei)h Roberts. Sr., his wife and children. Pat- 
rick Ivanning and family and Thomas Roberts moved onto the northeast 
quarter of .section 10. township 13 north, range 3 west, being the first families 
that moved into the county. To them nuist ever be given the honor of being 
the first families of Isabella countw 



lOO ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

On November 2ist of the same year, Daniel Brickley and John Stewart 
moved with their famihes into the west part of the same township. From 
this time on settlements were made in rapid succession. In Decemlier. John 
Hursli and Lewis Jenner cut a trail from Brickley's place to the farm on 
which the Norman school is now located, and on the 25th day of February, 
1855, John M. Hursh and family moved onto the place and formed the first 
nucleus for settlement in this part of the county. About the same time John 
Fraser crossed the Tittlbawassee river, at the mouth of the Pine, and with 
two or three others cut their way up the Pine to the old Indian mission, and 
then across to where be had purchased a half section of land, it being the south 
half of .section 31 in the township of Chippewa. It took four teams to con- 
vey Mr. Fraser's goods and family into the count}' and he has the credit of 
building the first frame barn built in the county, which was built in 1857. He 
was one of the thrifty farmers and soon had cpiite a tract of cleared land. He 
claims to have sold hay as high as eighty dollars a ton, corn for one dollar 
and fifty cents per l)ushel, and wheat as high as two dollars and fift)- cents per 
bushel. 

John O. A. Johnson was another of tlie early settlers, having b(5ught and 
settled in the township of Coe in June, 1855 ; he claims to hax'e been the seventh 
person to have settled in Coe. He was afterward a justice of the peace, slieriff 
and lastly judge of probate. 

Rev. Charles Taylor was an early settler in Chippewa. He bi)ught two 
hundred and fortv acres of land in Feliruary, 1855. and built a log JKiuse upon 
it for a home. It was located on section 9 of that township. 

Ransom Kyes was another of the early ones. He purchased two hun- 
dred acres in 1855 «i"^l settled upon it, cleared a p(irtion and when the war of 
the Rebellion was the hottest be enlisted and went into the armw He was 
afterward elected sheriff of the county. 

George Atkin was another of the early ones. He bnught under the grad- 
uation act one hundred and twenty-five acres on section 6. in Coe township, 
and made hiuLself and family a home, where he resided until his death. 

And so they came from time to time until the homestead law took effect 
in 1862, when the tide of emigration was increased and the south portion of 
the county was soon taken by the homestead settler. 

The population of whites had increased from about seven hundred in 
i860 to four thousand one hundred and fifteen in 1870. 

In the building of the Catholic church at Mt. Pleasant they bad some 
very devout and untiring men in their society and they delved in sunshine and 
in stf)rm until tbev saw the last shingle on the roof and the interior finished and 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. lOI 

fiirnislied ready for its dedication. Tliere was one man in that endeavor wlio 
is entitled to more tlian a passin,^ notice and tliat is John Fox. He was un- 
tiriiit;^ in his efforts to estahlisli a church for himself and his friends and so 
richly was he imhned with the spirit and so attached to the cause that he re- 
quested that, no matter where he was when his time came to surrender to the 
Great I^eveler of all man's amhitions, he desired that his remains he hrought to 
Mt. Pleasant and he interred in the .sainted grounds of his church and people. 
And when the message finally o\ertook him his kin. knowing of his desires, 
brought his remains from a distant state and in all things met the wishes and 
desires of his father. For this act of filial affection and regard for his 
father's wishes, he is entitled to much credit. 

Wise township used to ha\e almost any kind of a surprise in store for 
the peo])le and occasionally a queer incident. .\t one time a couple came from 
a neighboring county, desiring to become married, and went to Squire Robin- 
son to have the ceremony performed, and for pith and briefness we think this 
one is an example, being as follows: The Squire — "hiin hands; joined: will 
you have him? Will you have her: and how much am 1 to have? Amen." 

REMIXISCENCES I!V IKVIXG E. .VRXOI.D. 

One iif the old settlers at Alt. Pleasant am! \ icinity at and before there 
was any Mt Pleasant, and who is still living in the West, has this to say in 
regard to the early .settlement of this .section. His name is Irving E. .Arnold 
and some of the older of the few settlers now remaining that were here in 
the fifties will readily recall him as one of the i)rominent men of that time. 
He says he came here in 1857, at the time of the great p:inic, and remained 
here for a numl)€r of \ears. He confirms the statement that there never was 
any sort of a court house built upon the grounds selected for that purpose at 
the center of the county, but that George W. Jefferies built a log hou.se of 
sufficient size, sa)- twenty liy sixteen feet, |)ossibly sixteen b\- twenty-four feet 
and one story high. This building was occupied by Jeft'eries and wife and 
was also used for a court house, a hotel, store, county clerk's otifice. Nelson 
Mosher had a small stock of goods there and was running under the name of 
Xelson Mosher & Company. This was the only building at the time at the 
center, while it remained the county seat, save a barn. The office of register 
of deeds was also kept in this building. 

Mr. .Vrniild was the first county clerk of the cminty and he used to go to 
the Center once a week and do whatever recording and any other business that 
had accumulated in the interim. He remarks that Mrs. fefferies was not 



I02 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

used to primitive life and that at one time John M. Hursh was at the Center 
and inadvertently spit upon the floor and straightway Mrs. Jefferies proceeded 
to get the mop and water and clean up the muss, and it is safe to say that 
Uncle Tohn did not forget tlie hint. He confirms the fact that some of the 
Indians began to settle in Isabella in 1856, that the Indian Mills were built in 
i8s7 'i"f' that up to that time there was no Indian settlement of any kind. 
He first located on the northeast ([uarter of the northwest quarter of 
section 15, township 14 north, range 4 west. That as soon as the county was 
organized the agitation commenced in regard to the removal of the county 
seat from the Center. David Ward owned two hundred acres of land at Mt. 
Pleasant and offered to buikl a court house and donate five acres of ground. 
At that time A. M. Fitch, a brother-in-law of F. C. Babbitt, was Indian agent 
and had acquired eighty acres of swamp land adjoining the Indian Mills, 
so that Mr. Fitch joined forces with Jefferies to fight the removal of the county 
seat, on the grounds that later lie cduld remove it to the Indian Mills, and Mr. 
Babbitt, as agent for Fitch, worked among the Indians for several days be- 
fore the election. The Indians at that time cast at least two-thirds of the 
votes in the county. Jefferies had some parties working in Coe and a few in 
Chippewa, or. more properly speaking, Mr. Mosher had some friends in the 
two townships and he was very highly respected by all. At that time A. M. 
Merrill had a board shanty at the river crossing near the mill and Sam Smith 
lived near by and Joseph Miser, then sheriff, and his family and William H. 
Nelson occupied the hotel and these were the only other families there. Smith 
had charge of the mill and Babbitt was agent for Fitch, at least for two 
Indian payments, so that he had quite an acquaintance with the Indians. Mr. 
Ward took no active interest in the election for removal, leaving it entirely 
to me. Cushway was Indian blacksmith, knew every Indian and spoke their 
language fluentlv and as employee of Fitch worked against removal and for 
Jefferies and Smith for the same reason. A. M. Merrill, wlm was township 
clerk, was also against removal, so it will be .seen that the combination against 
removal was quite formidable. The year previous I had built four school 
houses for the government on different parts of the reservation, which gave 
me quite a general acquaintance with the Indians. Jim Eastman was a mer- 
chant at ^Midland City, and had been for a long time, and knew every Indian 
on the reservation and could speak their language and was very generally 
liked by the Indians. The third day before election I saddled my horse and 
about four o'clock in the afternoon started for Midland City, arrived there 
about ten o'clock P. M., saw Eastman, and next morning we were on the 
road to Isabella. He staved until the afternoon of the election, when he re- 



ISABKI.I.A COINTV. M IC 1 1 ICAX. IO3 

tinned til his home. His work was very effecti\e and I paid him an c\en one 
liniuh'ed tor his work; Ward paid no jiart of it. It did not all come out of my 
pocket, I)ut most of it did. Tlie polls were held at the office of the township 
clerk and A. M. Merrill was the clerk and con.sequently clerk of the election. 
After the polls closed, the board of election decided to ])ostpone the connt until 
tile next day. 1 was satisfied the plan was to stuff the ballnt Imx. jnhn M. 
Hursh, George Ferris, Jim Vleit and I decided that we woulil watch the Ijox 
until the ballots were counted. The Jefferies became furious and finally 
ordered us away from the premises. Re\olvers were displayed by both sides. 
Well, we saw those votes counted, wilii the result of one majority against re- 
moval. Coe and Chippewa carried it ft)r removal by a substantial majority. 

I\lr. Ward surveyed and platted the town site and called it by its present 
name. Subsequently I resurveyed and platted the grounds and Ward at once 
built the old court house; 1 put u]) the l)iiildin.<;'. furnishing everxthing for the 
mimificent sum of one hundred ami fifty dollars. 

Miscellaneous: The first dwelling house built in '\h. I'leasant was by 
Dr. E. Burt, afterward I)ought by William Preston. First child born was 
D. F. .\rnold. First postmaster, or. rather, postmistress, was Harriett Hursh. 
Mail once a week. First frame building, the old court house. 

— I. E. Akxold. 

EARLY SCHOOLS. 

In the spring of 1864, through the influence of George W. Lee, who after- 
wards became Indian agent, .\mos F. .\lbright came to Isabella from Lixings- 
ton county, as superintendent of Indian mills at Isaliell.i Lity. .After some 
correspondence with the Indian agent, D. C. Leach. Mr. Albright's daughter 
came to the Indian reservation to teach one of the schools. There were, or 
had l)een, I am told, six in number. One was west of the government school 
section, and was called the Bradley Mission School. There had been across 
the road, on what is now the government school section, a Methodist Indian 
church and cemetery. At the time of which I write the church had l)een 
burned. 

.\ second school, five miles north of this, was closed at the time, as was 
the third, at Shim-ne-con, now Xottawa. The.se two were later burned. .\ 
fourth, at Xippising, was in a flourishing condition, as was the Mission school. 
Across the road was a very good Indian church. Methodist, and around it 
were some, for the times, very intelligent and ])rosperous farmers. William 
Smith, Doctor Chatfield and John Collins were some of the leaders. 

Two miles north of thi.-, at one time, there was, I am told, a school, held 



I04 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAX. 

in a log building and in charge of the Lutheran mission. Mr. Meissler, a 
German missionar}-, taught there and wrote a dictionar^^ in the Indian lan- 
guage. It is my impression that this school was discontinued at the log school 
house and held in the school house two and one-half miles south of Nippising 
or about half way between it and Isabella City. This was the school Miss 
Albright had in charge in 1864 and 1865. There was onlv one north of her 
and that was Nippising. 

A small band of Lutheran Indians held services in this school house, 
once a month, and were in charge of Ma-cha-ba. a \ery eloquent Indian 
speaker. There were among the school books one of Indian and English 
words. Phillip Gruett attended this school veiy little ; he had spent one year 
at Fort \\'ayne, at a Lutheran Mission school, Mr. Meissler having sent him 
there. 

For these reasons I tliink it probable that there never were Init five 
schools. In 1864 there were but three open. I think, "The Mission," "The 
Nippising." and the one Miss Albright taught. This was considered the 
largest and most turbulent, though it is only fair to say that there were only 
two pupils who ever made any troulile and they attended but a very small 
part of the time. 

The fi\-e frame school Iniildings were built on government contracts, by 
Irvin E. Arnold, and contained one school room and three or four li\ing 
rooms for the teacher. The house and cookstove was furnished the teacher 
in addition to the salary. 

In 1864 the Mission school was taught by Maria Hines, of Lansing. 
She resigned her position in 1865. The school was later taught b_\- Miss 
Nellie Weldon and by Miss Addie Wilder. 

The Nippising school, in 1864, was taught by ]\Iiss Law. who resigned 
the following summer. 

I think that Miss Susan A. Foy, of Trenton, came to Isabella as a teacher 
to the Indians, though which school, the Nippising or the Mission, I do not 
know, but think it was the Mission. In 1864 she was married to I. E. Arnold, 
and lived at Isabella City. She. however, afterwards taught in both of these 
sc^hools. 

Miss Albright succeeded a ^Ir. Brooks and took charge of the school 
the first week in September, 1864. After she left the school it was. I think, 
closed for a time. 

Some years later it was taught for a time by a half breed, or his white 
wife, by the name of John R. Robinson, he acting as ]\Iethodist missionarv at 
the same time. 



ISABELLA COINTV, MIllIICAN. IO5 

It would seem that even at tliat time tlic trila- on this reservation 
was growing less in nnnil>crs. as witness the two closed schools; a treaty 
looking to the stopping of the annual jiaynients and giving the Indians deeds 
to their lands, or so many of them as were competent, was then l)eing discussed. 

Miss Alhright was present at one of the council meetings, when Mr. 
Leach, the agent, and a committee of three gentlemen from Washington, of 
whom Doctor Arnokl was one. were laying the matter hefore the Indians. 
Charles Rodd, a half breed, acting as government interpreter. 

In 1865. I think, Mr. Leach resigned as agent. Mr. Smith, his secretary, 
taking his place. In 1866 he told Miss Albright that the schools were to be 
closed, .\cting upon this statement, she engaged to teach a six months term 
of the White school at Isabella City. 

His plans were evidently not carried out as promptly as he expected, as 
the schools were carried on for a number of years after, more or less regularly. 

The school building in which Miss Albright taught has been remodeled 
and is now a comfortable farm house, owned by Joseph Ray. The one at 
Xippising was burned. The old chiux'b is still standing as a barn on the farm 
of Mrs. Thomas Carroll and 1 am told that tlie Mission school is now used 
as a stable by Mr. Barnard. 

Mrs. Captai.n Moshkk. 

EARLY F.nrCATIOXAL FACTS. 

It is worth while to note some jieculiarities of the old school system and 
some of the parties that partici])ated in them. .Away back in the sixties there 
was a superintendent of schools. Albert Fox was superintendent as early as 
1866. John B. Young in 1869 and C. O. Curtis in 1871. The office was 
abolished in 1875. and after that each town was a law unto itself as to schools. 

Then came the county school board, consisting of three members, one 
of wliich was elected and served as school examiner. Fred Russell being the 
first and T. Knox Jeffords next. S. J. Jamison was, in August, 1890. elected 
secretary of the board of county examiners, this being the title under wdiich the 
executive officer administered supervision of the rural schools. Mr. Jamison 
was the last of the examiners to act under this title, for during the year of 
his incumliency of the office the Legislature changed the title to commissioner, 
and Mr. Jamison was elected to the same office under the new title, hence 
was the first commissioner of schools for Isaliella county. 

For nianv vears the educators and teachers of the state had advocated 
that the rural schools be classified and graded and enough had been said to 



I06 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

arouse tlie opposition of the farmers, who thought such a classification meant 
added expense. One of tlie first duties of the new secretary and commis- 
sioner was this innovation and, while he met with determined opposition he- 
fore the end of the first year, every child in the rural schools had been classi- 
fied, a complete record of the classification of every school made, and Isabella 
countv could boast of the first classified and graded rural schools in the state. 
Mr. Jamison held the position until 1893, when Air. Bellinger was elected 
and held it until 1897, wdien he was followed by Orin Burdick and he by H. 
A. Graham in 1901, he holding the position until 1907, when E. T. Cameron, 
was ajipointed and still holds the office. ha\ing" l)een elected in the spring of 
1 9 T T . 



CHAPTER \'TI. 

KAKI.\' IKA.NSl'ORTATIO.V. TA\1-.K\S. KOAliS, I-'IKSI' .MILLS. 

Tliese arc interesting topics and of much importance, especially to the 
early comer. Isabella county being originally a heavy timbered country, and 
of a comparatively level surface, together with the fact that the timber was 
so dense that the sun did not penetrate to the ground cm niucli of its surface. 
and being to some extent of a level and marshy character, the reader will 
appreciate the fact that making roads was a matter fraught with much diffi- 
culty to the early inhabitant. 

The \ery first road, or, more properly speaking, trail, was cut frnm the 
south line of the county north to Salt river, to the center of section y, now in 
the township of Coe. in November, 1854. by William B. Bowen, William 
Adams. James Shepherd ( father of Isaac X. Shepherd), J. B. \\'alton, George 
and l)(iw Greenfield. William P>. Br>\\en driving the fu'st horse team and 
wagon over the line to Salt river. William ]',. ISowen was the father of the 
late Eugene Bowen of Mt. Pleasant and William .\danis was the father of 
Oliver H. Adams and Ed Adams, both of Shei)herd. The ne.xt day after 
Bowen and company came, Jacob Middaugh. W. W. Middaugli and John 
Hendershot came over the same trail with an o.x team and cut a ncid on to 
section i in the same township. On the 7th of November. 1834. Joseph Rob- 
erts, ."^r.. wife and family. Patrick Fanning and family and Thomas Roberts 
moved upon the northeast ([uarter of section 10, in said township, they 
I'.eing the first families to move into the county. On Xoxember 21. 1854, 
Daniel Hrickley and Joseph Stewart came with their families to Salt river and 
then cut their wav west to the west side of C He and there located. In Decem- 
ber of the same year George Hursh and Lewis Jenner cut a trail from Brick- 
ley's in a northwest direction to section 22. township 14 north, range 4 west, 
and on February 25, 1855. John ^l. Hursh came with his family and settled 
upon the west (jne-half of the northeast quarter of said .section, this lieing 
the same piece of land that the Normal school is now located upon. In 1856 
John Eraser had the pleasure of cutting a road some forty miles or more 
that he might bring his family and goods into the county : he came by the way 



I08 ISABELLA COUNTV, MICHIGAN. 

of Saginaw and Midland through to section 31, in Cliippewa. About tlie 
same time A. M. Merrill, who had purchased section ^2. township 14 north, 
range 4 west, came up the Chippewa river by the way of ^Midland, navigating 
the stream with a scow to a point some nine miles Ijelow Alt. Pleasant and 
from there cutting his way through the woods to his land. The theory of 
making this kind of a road was to keep as much as possible on the high, dry 
ground and cut and remove just as little of the timber and underbrush as one 
could and still pass over the ground with a team and wagon. As soon as lum- 
bering liecame profitable, the lumbermen opened up what they called "tote" 
roads, which were roads of the same general character, just sutificient for them 
to "'tote'" in their supplies. One such was built in the west part of the countrv 
known in an early day as the Merrill tote road, named in honor of Charles 
Merrill, of Detroit, one of the successful lumbermen of Michigan, This road 
extended from the south line of the county north, keeping on the west side 
of the Chippewa ri\-er until the}' got above Two Rivers, there crossing the 
Chippewa and continuing to Merrill's camp, a few miles up the river ; from 
there it was afterward extended up the river to Sherman City and thence on 
up the said river to the forks in Mecosta county. One was also opened up 
from Isabella City to Midland and Saginaw, keeping at all times on the north 
side of the river. This was used for a good many A-ears by our people, gen- 
eralh', as the only thoroughfare to Saginaw in fact, until 1870, when the 
Flint & Pere Marquette railroad was opened for traffic. 

After a few years of this kind of roads, the farmers who had located 
and commenced to improve their lands, converting them into farms, began 
to ha\-e something to sell and take to market, and something was done toward 
laying out and ci instructing ])ul)lic highwa^•s. It was a tedious and costlv pro- 
cess, for the cutting out of a mile of road meant the chopping down and clear- 
ing away the timber and underbrush of eight acres of land. 

And when that was done you had only made a good start toward a road ; 
it was then to be graded and drained. Most of the early draining was done 
by cutting what we called cross-way timber and either split that into rails or 
put them into the crossway whole, being careful to mismatch the logs as to 
size so that those who used the road would surelv know that he was passing 
over a made roadwa)'. ^^'e have seen miles of such corduroy road, some of 
it Iniilt by laying stringers made of large logs along the roadway and then 
placing the shorter logs on top of the stringer crosswise so that the top of the 
road would be from two to three feet above the ground. 

About 1865-6 the state took hold of the matter and authorized some of the 
swamp land of the state to be used for the laxing out and construction of 
state roads in the several counties. 



ISABELLA COUNTV. MICHIGAN. IO9 

C^nc was I)iiilt from St. John's, in Clinton count), t' i llliaca. in (Iratiot 
county, and then extended to Ahiia and from there to Mt. I'Icasant; later it 
was continued to Isal)e!la t'ity and from there turned west, goinjj througli to 
tlie west line of Isabella and then continued in a northwesterly course to Rig 
Rai)i<ls in Mecosta county. Another was started at Ionia, run in a northerly 
direction to the southwest corner of Isabella county, running Udrtli to Mil- 
brook and thence in a northeasterly direction through the townships of Broom- 
lield and Sherman, cutting across the southeast corner of Coldwater into (VA- 
more. and thence in a northeast direction to Farwcll, in Clare county, and then 
on to Houghton Lake, in Roscommon county. Ihere was also one running 
from Isabella City nortii to Clare, in Clare county, and one from Mt. Pleasant 
east to Midland City. 

These state roads were of a good deal of scr\ice to the people, as thev 
were main thoroughfares through the county and were on the lines of great- 
est travel. 

.\fter a few years of the state swamp land road regime, things lagged on 
account of the decrease of the swamp land available for such purposes. The 
highway business fell back to the old principle of highway conunissioner and 
l)athmaster. which had l)een the highest conception of how to make a road, 
and we went on im[)roving some all of the time, occasionally going back some 
and then making another spurt to catch up what we had lost. All this time 
a few of the far-seeing men and farmers were agitating the matter of good 
roads, all the while claiming that it would be a great saving even to the 
farmer who was bitterly opposed to any such burden for improvement of the 
])ublic highway. At last the Legislature was persuaded that something should 
be done. Others were doing something along that line and why not Michigan? 
So the Legislature of 1905 ])assed an act, which was approved June i, 1903. 
and appropriated the sum of thirty thousand dollars, for that }ear and sixty 
thousand dollars for the next year, to aid those who should build such roads 
as were ])rescribed in said act: and also proxidc-d for the ajipointment of a 
state highway commissioner delining his duties and compensation. Some 
of the counties very soon took advantage of the api)ropriations and commenced 
to build roads under the new system, receiving from the state the amount pre- 
scribed in the act as an aid in the building of the roads. Several efiforts were 
made in this county to enlist the farmers to take hold of the matter, but of 
little a\ail. It soon dawned, however, on the conservatix'e minds of the farmer 
that we were paving mone\' all the time to assist those in other counties to 
have good roads and we were still wading through the mud with a very light 
load and making \erv slow time. Then thev began to think. "Well, if 1 Inve 



no ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

got to pay for good roads, wouldn't it be a pretty sensible thing for me to pay a 
little more and I get the benefit instead of the other fellow?" AVhen the real 
situation dawned upon him he saw the point and seized the "critter" bv the 
horns and, pulling himself together, he slung the animal out of the way and 
asserted his manhood, and he is now on the right side of the fence and is 
serving his own interests rather than that of the other fellow. The kind of 
road prescribed is as follows, viz : The roadbed to lie well graded with good 
and sufficient ditches to carry ofif the surface water, and the roadbed to be 
not less than eighteen feet between the ditches, and to have a wagon way or 
travel track not less than nine feet \\ide, made in two courses ; the bottom 
course to be of approved mixture of clay and sand not less than five indies 
thick after being rolled, and covered with a layer of gravel which shall be 
not less than five inches thick after rolling. Both shoulders and metaled track 
shall be properly crowned so as to shed water quickly to the sides of the 
ditches. Such a road, when accepted by the state highway commissioner, 
shall merit from the state a reward of two hundred and fifty dollars. The 
steepest incline to be not over six per cent. For a road with the same require- 
ments, except that it must bnve not less than eight inches of compacted gravel 
put on in two courses and rolled separately, is entitled to a reward from the 
state of five hundred dollars. A road built on the same condition, except it 
is to have at least four inches of crushed stone in the bottom, after being rolled, 
and not less than three inches of gravel after rolling, will merit a reward of 
seven hundred and fifty dollars, for each mile, and one made on the same basis, 
the bottom layer to be of gravel not less than four inches thick, after being 
thoroughly rolled, and a top of crushed stone not less than three inches thick, 
after being thoroughly rolled and properly bonded, with sufficient stone screen- 
ings, will merit seven hundred and fifty dollars per mile. And for each mile 
of road made under the same conditions, except that the road way is to be 
at least si.x inches of macadam put on in two layers of three inches each, after 
being well rolled, for which when accepted they are entitled to receive one 
thousand dollars for each mile. 

Tt is a fact that up to the time of the passage of this act, there had been 
Iniilt in the county about ten or twelve miles of gravel road. During the year 
1909 there were contracted and mostly built under the new law about sixteen 
miles as follows: In the township of Coe, commencing one and one-half miles 
north of the southeast corner of the county antl running north one and one- 
half miles, and in the same township, commencing on the county line directly 
east of Shepherd and running west two and three- fourths miles, then west 
between sections 7 and 18. Coe township, one mile: south between sections 17 



ISABKI.l.A COUXTV, M Ull IGAX. 1 I I 

and 18, outi mile; on the south count}- line and south of sections ^7, and 34, 
two miles; in Lincoln township between sections 12 and 13, one mile, and be- 
tween sections 2 and 3. one mile. This \ear, 1910. there have been located 
and let about seventeen miles, as follows, as near as may be: Jn Coe township, 
one-half mile between sections 24 and 19; also one-half mile between sections 
2^ and 31 ; one mile between sections 18 and 19; one and one-fourth miles be- 
tween sections 7 and 8, and one-fourth mile between sections 7 and 18, and 
one-half mile north of county line and run north one-half mile between Coe 
and Lincoln townships ; and one mile in Lincoln between sections 25 and 30 
and also between sections 24 and 19: in the township of Union, one-half mile 
between sections 9 and 16, also one-half mile on East Broadway in section 
14; three- fourths of a mile between section 22 and 23 ; one-half mile in section 
22: in Isaliella township, one mile between sections 2 and 3. and one mile 
between sections 14 and 15; in X'ernon township, cjnc mile l)etween sections 3 
and 10; one mile between sections 22 and 23, and one mile between sections 
15 and 22; in Sherman township, one mile on the east and west quarter 
line of section 13. and one mile on the north and south (piarter line of 
section 24. It will be seen from this that the people are really awake at last 
to their material interests. And we also give these facts that a comparison 
may be made in the future as to the growth and development of the principle 
of good roads. 

EARLY TA\ERNS. 

The very first one was at the Indian mills, built about 1857 by William 
H. Xelson, who was afterward judge of probate. That hotel remained there 
and was kept by Judge Nelson as long- as he lived. The ne.xt one was built 
at Mt Pleasant by the Mortons, who were the proprietors of the village ])lat. 
This one was Iniilt in the summer and fall of 1863. and was located where the 
Donovan House now stands. 

About 1865 or '66 Elijah Moore built one at Salt River, now known as 
Shepherd. It was located on the very northwest corner of section 16 of Coe 
township and a part of it is now standing. This hotel did a good business 
in the early days and up to the time that the .\nn .Vrbor railroad was built 
and the village of Shepherd started, when the business gradually drifted to- 
ward the depot and finally left old Salt River. 

In the year 1878 there was a hotel built at Dushville by Turnbnll & 
Osborne. This village had then been settled only a short time. About the 
same time the village of l>lanchard had been started and had then the ])i-os- 
pect of a si'dden and healthy growth, it being in a wonderfully rich pine (lis- 



112 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

trict. They were not mistaken as to the pine and a party from Howard City 
purchased lots and built a very large and commodious hotel. It proved too 
large for the place and was not a paying investment. It being a lumbering 
town, where there are more or less chances for fire, they kept it well insured 
and it is well they did as it was not a long time before it took fire and was 
totally destroyed. Soon after this was destro\-ed the Londaville Hotel was 
built and that, too, met the same fate and then the Penobscot was built and 
lasted for a time and that al-so went up in smoke. 

In 1873 the village of Sherman City was started and soon thereafter a 
second plat was laid out by Johnson and Ellis and \-ery soon afterwards a 
hotel was built. It was at a time when the lumbering operations were begin- 
ning to be at the best and it was well patronized as long as the lumbering 
lasted and after that it continued, but not so prosperous. 

In 1 87 1 the Pere Marquette railroad was built through to Clare from 
Saginaw and the village of Clare was started, .\bout the same time a state 
road was built from Mt. Pleasant to Clare: that being only fifteen miles dis- 
tant, it was the nearest railroad station. .\ stage route was established and 
very soon after 1873 James L. Bush built and conducted the Half Way House 
at what is now Roselnish. This hotel served a very good purpose and con- 
tinued for a number of years. 

About 1878 Oscar T. Brinton located at what is now known as the 
village of Brinton, and laid out a village and Iniilt a number of coal kilns. 
As soon as the village was started, a hotel became necessary and one was built 
and has been continued to the present time, although the coal business has 
long since ceased. 

In 1882 James C. Caldwell, then a resident of Fremont, removed to Deer- 
field and in May of that year opened up the hotel at Caldwell, sometimes called 
Two Rivers, and a hotel has existed there ever since. 

In 1885 the Ann Arbor railroad was built to Shepherd and a village plat 
was laid off to be known as Shepherd. Veiy soon thereafter a hotel was built 
at that place and has since continued, and in fact a second one has been built 
there. This is a village not likely to go into disuse as it is in the oldest settled 
portion of the county. 

The hotel at W'eidman is of a later date, as the village did not take on 
full dress until 1895. but as soon as it did a hotel was built and has been main- 
tained to the present time. The lumbering interest, which was the foundation 
of the town, has disappeared, but agriculture has taken its place and the village 
is retaining that business and has made a very satisfactory growth. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MUHIGAX. II 



MILLS. 



Mills are a very necessary class of improvements in a new country, and 
especially in a heavily timbered country such as this was before the improve- 
ments commenced. It is true that the settler can avail himself of the timber 
to make himself a log cabin as well as log stables and barns, but they are not 
satisfactory as a general thing. The thrifty farmer desires something neater 
and cleaner, and where there is plenty of good timber and mills to saw the 
logs into lx)ards and timber for frames and roofing, as well as shingles for the 
covering of the roof, it gives much greater satisfaction to all concerned. 

The first mill built in the county was erected by John Reynolds in the 
year 1856 and was located on the Salt river about two miles below Shepherd. 
It was said to he the first frame building erected in the county. It did busi- 
ness for several years and then was sold and removed to old Salt River village. 
Afterward it burned and there is nothing left but the nieniciry of what it was 
in its palmy days. 

The next mill to be built was erected in the year 1857 and was built by 
the United States government for the Indians of the Chippewas of Saginaw, 
Swan creek and Black river, under and by \irtue of the treaty of 1855. This 
mill was both saw and grist-mill. The buhrs were brought from Saginaw up 
the Tittabawassee and Chippewa rivers, lashed on two canoes decked over. 
In fact all of the machinery was brought uj) the rivers in the same way. The 
dam to create the power was built across the Chippewa river on section 10, 
township 14 north, range 4 west. It was considered a good mill power. 
The mill continued to do business for the Indian, also for whites who desired 
to patronize it. It had a capacity of about four thousantl feet of sawed lum- 
ber and twenty bushels of wheat or corn. The capacity was sufficient for the 
purpose for which it was built, as the Indians did not become farmers to an 
alarming extent. Mr. Penmont was the contractor and completed the mill in 
time, but did not get it accepted until the next spring. .\. M. ImIcIi was then 
Indian agent and lived in Cleveland. Ohio, and it was not convenient for him 
to come up and inspect the work until the spring of 1858. This mill also 
burned in the year 1870 and no attempt was made to rebuild. The dam also 
went out, so that there is now no mill on the ilam site nor dam on the mill 
site. 

The next mill built was one at Salt River, built by George W. Miller. 

For this mill the power was derived by damming the Salt river, thus creating 

a pond of water, which dam was just south of the highway and east of the 

four corners at old Salt River village. This null was afterward sold to 

(8) 



114 ISABIiLLA COUXTV, MICHIGAN. 

Stahlman & Young, who operated it for some time, when it changed hands 
several times and finally met the fate of the others and went up in smoke. 
The dam also departed this life and is now numhered among the things that 
were, but are no more. 

In 1866 a saw mill \vas built by the Hapner Brothers at Mt. Pleasant, the 
power being obtained by damming the Chippewa river at that place, and after- 
ward, in 1872. the Harris Brothers built a grist mill on the power. The saw 
mill cimtinued for several )ears and then the power owned and controlled 
by the owner of the saw-mill, George W. Brower, was sold to the owners of 
the flouring mill and the saw mill dismantled and remox'ed from its location 
and a steam saw mill was Ijuilt upon the grounds of the one now owned bv the 
Gorham Brothers Company. That was built liy Owens & Clinton and after- 
ward it changed hands several times and about 1881 it was sold to A. B. Upton 
and soon went into the firm of Leaton & Upton, who converted it into a mill 
ha\ing a capacity of forty thou.sancl feet per day. They continued to operate 
it until abnut 1889, when the_\- turned it over to some of their creditors, who 
formed the Alt. Pleasant Lumber & Manufacturing Company who operated 
it until the panic of 1895, when that also went to the wall and the property 
was sold and dismantled. 

Some time after this the Gorham Brothers Compan\- |)urchased the mill 
site and grounds, including liooming and floatage in the mill ijond, and erected 
the sawmill now lieing operated by their company. This is now the only saw 
mill of anv considerable importance in the county. There are perha])s three 
or four small portable mills, but none of large capacity. The county used to 
be a regular beehi\-e of saw and shingle mills ; now the timber is substantially 
e.xhausted and there is no call for such mills. Even the Gorham Brothers 
ship in bv rail abcjut all of the logs they cut, and the clav of saw and shingle 
mills has passed and gone. 

There have been some important saw and shingle mills in the county 
other than the one at Mt. Pleasant, \iz. : In the spring of 1871 George W. 
Wise erected a saw mill at what is now the \-illage of Loomis and commenced 
the manufacture of lumber, and also added to that a shingle mill and com- 
menced the manufacture of shingles, running the saw mill day times and the 
shingle mill nights. There were then great quantities of pine and cedar tim- 
lier in the \icinit\- of the mill. This mill burned in 1875, Init was rebuilt and 
remained until the timlier was exhausted and then it was dismantled and re- 
moved. 

About 1875 a mill was built at Blanchard for the purpose of cutting out 
the timber in that \icinitv. which was one of the most hea\'il\' timbered por- 



ISABELLA COfNTV. MUIIKIAX. II5 

tions of the county. Some of tlie most thickly timherecl land we e\-er saw was 
found in Rolland township. One sectii)n alone cut over twenty-two million 
feet of pine timlier : that section could have been bought at one time for two 
dollars and fifty cents per acre, and were the timber standing; upon the land at 
the present time and in as j^ood condition as it was at that time it would ])ring 
the neat sum of not less than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, some 
say three hundred and fifty thousand dnljars. 

The mills remained in Blanchard until the lumljering was exhausted, and 
then went out. At Bundy, on the Ciii])pewa river, another large mill was 
built for the pm'pose of cutting a large tract of timber in Broi^mfield township, 
and what might he brought down the river from above. This lasted but a 
few years, until the tract was cut and removed, when the mill was removed 
also and the town or \illage of Bundy disappeared from the face of the map 
and Bundy is no more. 

There was another of our princijial saw mills, also a shingle mill. l)uilt 
in the northern part of the township of Vernon soon after the I'lint & I'ere 
Mar(|uette railroad was built. Tt remained for se\"eral years until the timlier 
sup])ly was exhausted and then this mill was also dismantled and removed 
from the county. The last named mill was owned and operated by the Wil- 
son Brothers. So. one after another, the saw and shingle mills came and 
went as long as timber could lie found sufficient to o])erate them. One of the 
\ery last of the principal saw and shingle mills was that of John S. W'eidman. 
who came into the countx' about the \ear 1X9,^ ;uid purchased a tract of timber, 
largely hard wood, at and near what is now the \illage of W'eidman: he oper- 
ated there until about a year ago, when he. too, having exhausted the timber 
supply, dismantled his null and closed out his lumlier interests at tiiat place. 
This was one of the most prosperous lumber enterprises in the county. The 
saw mill cajiacity was forty thousand feet per day of mixed timber, the shingle 
mill had a cajjacity of fifty thousand daily, and a jjlaner, with a cajiacity of 
thirty thousand feet. He cut in all about oiu- bundi'c<l and forty million feet 
of lumljer, and one hundred million of shingles. 

These lumber and shingle nn'lls were of the first importance, as it was 
necessary that the settler should have lumber to make himself and family a 
home and shelter, as well as b.irns and .stables for his grain and stock. After 
the home, came the necessity for grist mills to grind the flour and feeil for man 
and Iteast. 

The Reynolds mill was both a saw and grist mill and sup])lied the neces- 
sity of such a mill in a very early date in the county. So also was the Indian 
mill and so was the Miller null at old Salt River, which was purchased by 



Il6 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Stahlman & Young in 1866 and for some years operated by them, but has now- 
disappeared. The one built at Mt. Pleasant by the Harris Brothers is still 
standing and doing a good business. They have added to the mill a large 
grain elevator with a storage capacity of about fifty thousand bushels. It has 
a grinding capacity of one hundred and fifty barrels every twenty-four hours. 
It is now operated by the Harris Milling Company, Limited. This is an extra 
good piece of property and the parties are doing a very prosperous business. 

There was another of the early mills of the county erected about 1869 by 
Henry Wooden on the Chippewa river in the township of Sherman. This 
was a saw and grist mill, of moderate capacity, but served the community well 
for a good many years. The mill is still standing, but it has not been used 
very much for several years. This mill was run by water power created by 
damming the Chippewa at that place: it was a good power which served a 
purpose, propelling the mill and flooding millions of feet of logs down the 
the Chippewa river each spring for all the years that logs were floated through 
the river to the Saginaw mills. 

In the earlv sex'enties William Beckley, another early settler in the town- 
ship of Rolland, dammed the Pine ri\-er and built a combined saw and grist 
mill. It. like all of the other mills of the early settlement of the county, served 
the people of the vicinity, and was of supreme importance in the earl}- develop- 
ment of the country. The mill is still doing business. 

There is also a, grist mill just west of Sherman City, owned by JMr. Smith, 
which is in good running order and doing a fair business, sufficient to supply 
the wants of the community. The power is created by a dam across the 
Chippewa river, a fairly good stream at that place, it being a short distance 
below the junction of the north and south branches of the Chippewa river. 
Another and more pretentious mill is to be found at the village of Weidman, 
built on the upper portion of the Coldwater river, the power being derixed by 
damming the river. This mill has connected with it an elevator of about 
thirty thousand bushels capacity. The company owning the property is the 
Flolweg IMilling Company, capital stock, fifteen thousand dollars. They not 
only grind all kinds of grain, but are large dealers in beans, hay, grain, pota- 
toes and all other kinds of produce. They have a good outlet to outside 
markets over a branch of the Pere Marquette railroad. Said branch runs 
from Weidman south and west to Remus and there intersects with the main 
line, which extends south to Ionia and on south and east to Detroit. 

Another of the staple mills is the C. C. Field Shepherd Roller Mill, built 
soon after the railroad was completed to Shepherd. This, as its name indi- 
cates, is a roller mill with one set of buhrs used in grinding buckwheat, corn 



ISABELLA CorNTV. MICHIGAN. II7 

and feed. This mill gets its power from a steam engine and boiler and is 
conveniently located on the track of the Ann Arbor railroad. Tlieir storage 
capacity is alx)ut six thousand l>usliels. This mill has a good reputation and is 
doing a flourishing business. The other mills along the line of converting 
timber into some useful article were the stave and heading mills, also hub 
mill. i)asket factory and veneering factor)'. 

In the early eighties one Prentis l)uilt a sta\c mill U>y cutting staves, 
principally from water elm. which at that time was very plentiful in the county 
and had no commercial value e.xcept for staves. His mill was built upon the 
northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 15, township 14 north, 
range 4 west. This mill run fi)r sdiiic years and finally went (nit of business 
for want of timber, 'i'here was also a heading mill in the north part of the 
city conducted by Hornung & Son, that run for soine years and then burned 
down, was rebuilt and conducted for some time and then burned again. The 
last fire was about 1907: after this last tire, the timber being so nearly ex- 
hausted, the owners concluded not to rebuild and that industry ceased. There 
was also a stave mill built at Shepherd about 1885 and was successfully oper- 
ated for several years. 

The Gorham Brothers Company purchased grounds for a ])Iant in Decem- 
ber, 1887, and commenced to build in February, 1888, and iiave been iiere 
ever since. Their first enterprise was that of making fruit baskets and in tiiat 
thev still continue, onlv to a small amoinit, however. They l)ranrhed mU into 
making trunk slats quite early in their transactions, then added veneering, and 
then a saw mill, which they now operate. More recently they have been very 
extensive makers of veneer panels. The company has been a stable and pros- 
perous institution, employing at times as many as two hundred and seventy 
employees and are employing about one hundred and seventy at the present 
time. Something may be judged of their business also by the amount of 
power it requires to run the plant. Their present power is rated at two hun- 
dred and fifty horse power and the company is now installing another boiler 
with a capacity of three hundred and fifty horse power. .\ large quantity of 
the material used in their factory has to be shipped in from other states and 
some even from foreign countries. Their capital stock is one hundred and 
twenty-five thousand dollars with seventy-four thousand seven hundred sub- 
scribed and paid in; present worth of real and personal property, about two 
hundred thousand dollars. 

.Another important industry established in the county and at Mt. I'lca^ant 
was a hull null. This was built about the year 1900 by the Whitney-Taylor 
Com|)any. a corporation with capital stock of two thousand five hundred dol- 



Il8 ISABELLA COUXTV, MICHIGAN. 

lars and operated for several years, then tlie hub machinery was moved away 
and the Imilding sold to Mt. Pleasant Body \\'orks. They remodeled the 
factory, put in different machinery, something suitable for making buggy 
bodies. This was a corporation, incorporated March 31, 1902. with twelve 
thousand dollars capital. This company also purchased what was known as 
the "Priest Patent"' for making a plugl.ess buggy body, supposed at the time to 
be the best and most substantial buggy body on the market. They com- 
menced to mmufacture buggies about July, 1902, continued for a time and 
then hnding that they needed more capital, they voted to raise it to thirty 
thousand d(.)llars. though it was afterward reduced to twent}' thousand dollars. 
After this increase of stock they went on with the work and it seemed to be 
getting along tine, so that the parties were jubilant over their success in the 
venture, so much so that on January 15, 1903. a meeting of the stockholders 
was called to v(ite upon the proposition of raising the capital stock to fifty thou- 
sand dollars. The vote was had and the stock authorized. It only took a short 
time to print and e.xecute the stock and get some of it on the market. .-\11 
were now ixioyant and things were going along swimmingly. It was one of 
the conditions of the last increase that the old stockholders were to have 
gratis an amount of the new stock equal tn the amount of stock then held liy 
them Thev then employed a man to spend some of his time in selling the 
surplus stock and he went out and succeeded in disposing of some of it. The 
scheme then looked so light and airy that it began to inflate some of the stock- 
hnlders and one of them, one Mason Bambrough, came forward with a proposi- 
tion to increase the stock to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, he and one 
Leeb, of Chicago, to be the promoters. They were to pay into the corpora- 
tion thirty-one thousand dollars in cash, give to the old stockholders one hun- 
dred and twentv-six thousand dollars in the new stock for their holdings and 
they to take the balance. They were then to Iniild a new and complete fac- 
tory, to cost fifteen thousand dollars. Bambrough was to have six months to 
complete his organization and get matters in shape. Then the company, 
thinking that they would operate the factory but a short time, reduced their 
force and run light handed. .\t the end of the six months the big scheme 
did not materialize and the plant was finally sold to Bambrough by order of 
the stockhnlders fur the sum nf twenty-five thousand dollars, taking a mort- 
gage on the plant for the entire amount of purchase money. He took over 
the plant and held it till the spring of 1904, when the mortgage was foreclosed 
and sold at public auction fo'- two thousand one hundred dollars. It was after- 
ward sold to J. F. Butcher & Company, who operated it for a short time and 
then dismantled and mo\ed the machiner\- out of the countv. 



ISABELLA COL'NTV, MK'IIIGAN. IIQ 

About two years ago llie luib mill was moved hack to Ml. i'leasant and 
put in o])eration and has been doing a good business. The parties who are 
the owners and (Operators of tliat plant have also added a very much needed 
plant, viz: a tile mill, where all kinds of cement tile are made. They are 
making a good appearing tile and if it shall jjrove a success, so far as the last- 
ing ((ualities of the tile are concerned, it w ill prove to be a most needful con- 
cern. We are informed, and it Inoks most reasonaijle. that there is abso- 
lutely no question of the lasting qualities of the tile and ivmw nur knowledge 
of the material we have no (|uestion of their goodness. 

ELECTRIC LIOIIT IM.AXT. 

On December 6. i88q. a franchise was granteil b\ the common council of 
Mt. Pleasant to the .Mt Pleasant Electric Company to build and install an 
electric light and ])ower [)lant. .\n organization was formed December 3. 
1889 to take over the franchise and build a plant. This organization was 
known as the Mt. Pleasant Electric Company, with cai)ital stock of twenty- 
h\e thousand dollars, dixided into one thousand shares. This comi^any be- 
came the property of Walter S. Xewberry, who really built the plant and oper- 
ated it until about the ist day of May, igo8. when he .sold to Ed Harris. Mr. 
Harris is still operating the plant and is giving good service to his patrons. 
It has been a growing business from the start and is well patronized. It 
furnishes incandescent as well as arc lights for both citizen and city. The 
city is principally lighted by electricity, having forty-two of the arc lights at 
fifty dollars each per year; four all-night Tungsten lamps, at thirty dollars 
each per vear; se\en series at fifteen dollars each and twn lamps at twent\-five 
dollars each. In all. the city is paying this company tw(j thousand three hun- 
dred and seventy dollars per year for lights. The other electric lights in the 
city are at the Gorham Brothers Companx' and at the Indian school. They 
each have their own dynamos and furnish their own lights. There is also a 
dynamo in the mill of the Holmes Milling Com])any at Wei<lman. nse<l for the 
mill only. 

Also at Shepherd, they have electric light--, the pl;nit being owned and 
operated by the village of Shepherd. .\lso at the Central Michigan .\ormaI 
School there is a plant used exclusi\ely for their own pnrjjose 

.\nother industry is that of the Mt. Pleasant Light & Fuel Conqjany, a 
corporation with a capital stock of seventy-five tlKHisand dollars, organized in 
IQ04. and now having about ten miles of gas mains. The gas plant manu- 
factures about fortv tliousand cubic feet of gas i)er day. with some si.x bun- 



I20 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

dred patrons, using the same for lighting and cooking. They have a holder 
with a capacity of fifty thousand cubic feet and use in the manufacture of the 
gas about twelve thousand tons of gas-making coal per year, which is steadily 
increasing as their mains are extended. It is a good industry and will con- 
tinue to grow as the wood supply becomes more scarce. It seems almost in- 
credible that a county twenty-four miles square and in i860 covered with a 
dense growth of timber, should in fifty years be using almost exclusively coal 
for heating purposes and gas for cooking, but such is the case in this county. 
This plant has the honor of being the first of its kind in the county and the 
only one up to the present time. It is appreciated by our citizens and very 
well patronized. 

In the making of gas from coal there are always some by-products, such 
as tar and coke. The coke is useful for heating purposes and readily sells 
for about five dollars per ton. The company now produces about six hun- 
dred tons of this kind of coke and of the coal tar about two hundred barrels 
per year. The tar also has a market value and is used in roofing and many 
other ways, so that it is a valuable adjunct to the making of gas. 



CHAPTER \']1]. 

COURTS, BENCH AND BAR. 

There is notliing more iiiterestiii<j ami instructive in the line of inxesti- 
gation than the research necessary in catching up the threads that go to make 
up the warp ami woot of history; and this is true whatever the subject may 1)C, 
as one will find by following back, student-wise, the lines that reach to the 
beginnings we seek. But truth is rarely reached without labor. .\t first 
thought it would seem easy enough to write the history of an institution that 
came into existence within a centur)-. hut an attempt will pro\c that when tlie 
])urpose is to arrive at the e.\act facts, the undertaking is not unattended 
with difficulties; and a portion, at least, of the present inquiry is no exception 
to the rule, as the opening paragraphs of the advertisement to the Revised 
Statutes of 1838 will show: 

"In the change from a territorial to a state government, great incon- 
venience was experienced in adopting the territorial laws under the state con- 
stitution. They consisted of enactments of a period of more than thirtv 
years, commencing with those adopted and published by the govern(jr and 
judges, a part of which had been re-enacted by the first Legislative Council of 
the late territory of Michigan. Each subsequent Council passed its addi- 
tional quota of acts, seemingly without any regard to former enactments, and 
tlicy a])pear in many instances without date of a])pro\al. Several repealing 
acts had i)een passed without sufficiently designating the acts or parts of acts 
intended to be repealed, and frequent legalizing and explanatory acts, all 
serving to confuse rather than to explain. Two attempted revisions had been 
made, one in 1827, the other in 1833. the latter of which wanted a general 
harmonizing and explanatory act to make it intelligible, e\cn to those most 
familiar with it." 

THE CIRCUIT. 

The first definite trace we have of the judicial history of the territory now 
comprising the county is found in a proclamation by the governor of the then 
territory, LewHs Cass, on the 13th day of April, 182 1, wherein he proclaimed 



122 ISABELLA COUXTV. MICHIGAX. 

that by virtue of the power in liim vested, he attaclied to the county of Oakland 
all the tract of crjuntry to which the Indian title was extinguished by the 
treaty of Saginaw September 24. 1819. Afterwards, and on the 19th day of 
September, 1822, the former proclamation was ratified and continued by an- 
other wherein it was ordained that all said country should be '"attached to and 
become a part of" said Oakland county. 

The treaty of Saginaw al)(.)\e referred to provided for the cession bv the 
Indian tribes of all that part of the territory included substantiall_\- within a 
boundary line commencing at Fort Gratiot at the head of the St. Clair river, 
and running west to a point near where the city of Grand Rapids is located; 
thence northeast on a direct line to the headwaters of Thunder F'ay river, 
and thence, following the course of said river, to Lake Huron. The western 
boundary line given above just touches the northwest corner of this county, 
then unnamed and unbounded. lea\'ing it within the territory nient'Dued in the 
proclamation of the governor hereinbefore mentioned. 

Although the county was bounded and named on March 2. 1 831, it was 
not recognized as an entity, and on the 2d day of ^March, 1836, it was enacted 
that all the countr\- lying north of the county of Gratiot, not organized into 
counties, should be attached to the county of Saginaw for judicial purposes, 
until otherwise directed by the Legislature. This affected the east half of the 
county only. Init <m the 18th day of March, 1837, by a like enactment, all the 
country north of the county of Ionia, and which included the west half of 
Isabella, was attached to Ionia for like purposes. 

In the revision of the laws made in 1837 and 1838, and known as the 
Revised Statutes of 1838, the state was divided into four circuits, and the 
counties of Saginaw and Ionia, w ith the attached territory, were both placed 
in the fourth circuit, and this relation was continued hv chapter 8q of the 
Revision of 1846. 

In 1848 the supreme court was required to redistrict the state and to add 
a circuit in the Grand Ri\-er valle_\'. but if it was done, no record of the same 
appears to be now in existence. 

In 185 1 the Legislature dixided the state intu eight judicial circuits and 
Saginaw, with its attendant territory, incluih'ng the east half of Isaljella 
county, was made a part of the seventh, while Ionia, with the west half thereof, 
was placed in the eighth circuit. This continuetl until, in 1853. the whole 
countv was attached to Saginaw, where it remained until, in 1855. it was an- 
nexed to ]\Iidland countv which had been previously organized. 

At the extra session of 1858 the act of 185 1 was amended and the state 
divided into ten districts, the tenth to be composed of Isabella, Gratiot. Mid- 



ISAIUI.I.A fOUXT'l'. .Mil IIIC.AX. IJ3 

laixl Alpena and Iosco. ( )n I'V-liruai}' :u. I1S59. Saginaw and liay were added 
to sncli circuit, and on the next day Isabella was fully organized and remained 
a part of said circuit until, in 1S75. when the t\\ent\-first circuit was created. 
The latter was composed of Isabella. Clare. Midland. Gratiot. Gladwin and 
Roscommon, the last three of which have since been detached therefrom and 
make up a part of other circuits. Xo other change has been made therein. 

Till-: coL'xrv .sicat. 

Before the legal organization of the count)-, and at the session of 1S55. 
the T.egislature pro\ided for a commission of three i)ersons to hjcate the county 
seat, and that they, or a majority of them, should file their oaths of office with 
the secretary of state, and proceed to examine locations proposed, and within 
one vear tile a certificate under their seals with said secretary of state showing 
the location chosen, and such place was to he the "legally established county 
seat." The commission, consisting of Stephen F. Page. (leorge \\". Lee and 
(leorge D. Hill, was appointed by the governor on May 5, 1855. and cjn Febru- 
arv 12. 185'). tiled its finding as follows: 

"We. the undersigned commissioners duly appointed In' the governor of 
the state of Michigan to locate the county seat of Isabella county in said state 
of Michigan, being dul\' qualitied and basing examined the several points iiro- 
])osed for said location, do after due consideration and deliberation hereby 
locate said county seat upon the northeast f|uarter of section one ( i). town 
fourteen ( 14) north, range fi\e (3) west, upon land known and described as 
follows, to wit: Commencing at a point three rods \vest from the east line 
of said section and three rods south of the north line of said section, running 
thence south forty rods parallel with the east line of said section, thence west 
twenty rods parallel with the north line of said section, thence north forty 
rotls parallel with the east line of said section, thence east parallel with the 
north line of said section, twenty rods to the jilace of lieginning. containing 
fi\e acres of land. 

"George W. Lee. 

"George D. Hill. 

Commissioners."' 

It will be seen that the commission left one rod of land between the road 
and the court house site. This, no doubt, was an oversight. 

The board of supervisors at its session of February 21. i8fio. held at 
Isaiiella Center, as proxided by law. passed a resolution designating the pres- 



124 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

ent court house site for court purposes, and Mt. Pleasant as the county seat, 
and ordered that legal notice be given and the question of the removal of the 
county seat to Mt. Pleasant should be voted upon, at the spring election of 
i860. On May loth the board of supervisors met at Isabella Center and can- 
vassed the votes cast, from which it appeared that those cast for the removal 
were one hundred and fifty-si.x and those cast against it, one hundred and 
three, giving a majority of fifty-three in fa\-or tliereof. Thereupon, by reso- 
lution of the board, the county seat was located at Mt. Pleasant, where it has 
since remained. The land chosen was owned by David Ward, a lumberman, 
and he donated it to the county so long as the county seat should remain at 
Mt. Pleasant. 

THE COURT HOUSES. 

At Isabella Center, court was held in a log building that ser\ed at least 
four purposes, a dwelling, a store, a hotel and the court house. This was not 
located upon the grounds designated by the commission, but on the opposite 
side of the road. But one term of court was held there. The old court house, 
as it is called, was a wooden structure, built near the northwest corner of 
the present site by said David Ward and, with the land, was donated to the 
county and accepted July 12, i860, but the county paid for clearing the ground 
upon which it stood. A cut of this building graces the walls of the present 
court room. It was not an imposing edifice, but looked good to the pioneers 
for whose benefit and protection it was erected. 

The present court house was built at the center of the court house grounds 
during the season of 1876. Repeated attempts to appropriate money to luiild 
a more commodious structure than the old one had failed, but I. A. Fancher, 
then state senator, discovered that the system of bookkeeping employed in the 
office of the auditor-general was faulty and that ten thousand four hundred 
eighty-six dollars and seventy-six cents was due the county from the state. 
At his instance a resolution was passed by both Houses that the county lie 
credited that amount, and this action was afterwards held legal and binding 
by the supreme court. When paid to the county, ten thousand dollars of the 
amount above stated was appropriated by the board of supervisors for a court 
house. Two thousand dollars more was raised b}' the people of the county, 
and one thousand dollars by taxation. A building committee, consisting of 
William R. Crowley, Samuel Kennedy, William M. Patterson, Henry H. 
Graves and Irving E. Arnold, was appointed, and the contract was let to 
Hemmeter & Kaiser, of Saginaw, to be Iniilt in accordance with plans and 
specifications furnished by John B. Diblile. architect. The Freemasnns. witli 



ISABELLA COUXTV, .MU IllC.W. I25 

the assistance of otlier secret societies, laid tlie ccjrner stone on tlie j8i1i day 
of July, 1876, and the Ijuilding was completed October 26, iHjj. When ready 
for occu])ancy. the entire cost was sixteen thousand one hunth'cd ninet\' dollars 
and forty-nine cents, all of which was paid down. 

In 1880, by resolution of the board of supervisors, the court yard square 
was graded and improved and the beautiful trees that now adorn it were set. 
This was done under the supervision of Charles M. Brooks, then sherif-f. These 
trees were tended by the late All>ert A. Preston, who lived just across from 
the northwest corner of the court yard, and this care extended for the period 
of five years. The grounds have since been improved by building cement 
walks at all ])laces where needed. 

THE BENCH. 

Wilbur F. Woodworth, of Midland, who had been elected circuit judge 
on the creation of the tenth judicial circuit, was the first judge to hold court 
in the county. }ic ])resided at the two t.erms commencing January 24th and 
July 24th, respecti\cly. in i860. He was a young man. with l)ut little experi- 
ence in practice, and remained on the bench ])ut a short time when he re- 
signed and went West. 

James Birney. who succeeded him. was a resident of Bay county, and a 
man of affairs and aliility. lie had been elected lieutenant-governor and was 
inaugurated April 3, 1861, but soon afterward resigned to accept the place 
made vacant by the resignation of Judge Woodworth. He completed the re- 
mainder of that term of office and held the terms of court in this countv from 
the J.^rd day of July. i8(ii. to and including the term commencing June 12, 
1862. Judge Birney afterwards (from iSjU to 1882) served as minister of 
the United States at The Hague, and was a member of the state constitutional 
convention of 1867. 

Jabez G. Sutherland followed Judge Birney and held his first term of 
court in the county on the 21st day of January. 1863. anti his last term. Julv 
17, 1870. He had been a meml^er of the constitutional convention that framed 
the state constitute of 1850, and also of the con\ention for the same purpose 
helfl in 1867. He was nominated and elected to the house of representatives 
of the forty-second Congress. He afterwards become the author of several 
law bocjks of great merit, among them his w(3rk upon Damages, considered of 
high authority by the bench and bar of the nation. . 

On the resignation of Judge Sutherland, to take his .seat in Congress, 
J<^hn Moore, of Saginaw, succeeded him. He held court in the countv from 



126 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

July i8, 1871, until the term commencing January 20. 1874, when he resigned 
and went back to the practice of law. Judge Moore was a lawyer of large 
experience and great legal attainments. He has always been considered one 
of the strongest judges that has served upon the Michigan bench. 

^\'illiam S. Tennant, also of Saginaw, followed Judge Moore on the 
liencli of the tenth circuit, and presided at all terms in this county from May 
4, 1874. to the creation of the twenty-first circuit (of which, as shown above, 
this county formed part) and the election of a judge in the spring of 1875. 

At the spring election of 1875, Hemy Hart, of IMidland, was elected to 
fill the remainder of the term, which would expire with the year, and also for 
the full term to begin Januar}- i, 1876. He was re-elected in 1881. and again 
in 1S87. Judge Hart was a man of great strength of character, had high 
ideals, and profound respect for the "majesty of the law." He had in a 
wonderful degree that peculiar possession known to the bar as a "judicial 
mind " and this, with his Ijroad knowledge of humanity, made him the ideal 
judge. 

Peter F. Dodds, of 'Sit. Pleasant, the present incumbent, began practice 
of the law in this county in 1875 and continued the same to the time of his 
election to the bench in 1893. He was re-elected in 1899, and again in 1905, 
the last being without opposition. He served as prosecuting attornev of the 
county in 1881 and 1882. 

THE BAR. 

Nelson Mosher was the pioneer attorney of the county and it was well 
for the people and the liar that he was the first, as well in leadership as in 
residence, that he might, as he did. direct in the formati\-e period of the 
county's legal history. He was "a gentleman of the old school" and Nestor 
of the bar. Somewhat reserved and unassuming, he was a splendid specjmen 
of that type of lawyer who believes that his is among the most honorable and 
useful of the professions, and that it is incunilient upon e\"erv member thereof 
to keep himself fit to be enrolled in its roster. He was the first prosecuting 
attorney and circuit court commissioner of the county, serving in both otifices 
in 1859. He held the office of county treasurer from i860 to 1864, and again 
fnjin 1868 to 1872. in which latter vear he died. 

James P. Mosher, son of the last above, was elected prosecuting attorney 
and circuit court commissioner and succeeded his father in i860, and held 
said offices for two years. He remained in the county but a few years. He 
enlisted in Company C. Twenty-sixth Michigan, served during the war. re- 
turned here for a short time, going thence to Califi)rnia. where he afterwards 
died. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. I27 

TIic records show tliat Moses Tonipkiiis was elected prosecuting atturne\- 
and circuit court commissioner in i86j. hut liow long he served or when he 
left the count\' does not appear to l)c known to an\one whose e\idence is ob- 
tainable. 

Isaac .\. I'^ancher came to the count}' in 1863 and was elected as prose- 
cuting attorney and circuit court commissioner for a two years' term. He 
was again elected to both offices in 1870. In 187,^ he was called to the lower 
house of the Legislature, w iicre he served one term, and in 1875 he was elected 
and served a term in the state Senate. He is and has been for many years the 
honored president of the County Bar Association, and. since the death of 
Xelson Moslier. has always been known as the "Father of the Bar." 

Cornelius Bennett came to the county in \H()^. after graduating from 
tile law department of the State Uni\ersity. Me was elected as circuit coiu^t 
commissioner for the tenii commencing Januar\- 1. 1876; as count}- clerk 
and register of deeds for 1871-J, and as register of deeds again for 1873-4. 
He held the office of judge of probate from 1881 to 1888, and the office 
of justice of the peace in the township of L'nion and in the city of ^It. 
Pleasant for more tlian twenty years. No man had a tinner place in the 
respect and affection of the community. While he was seldom seen in trials 
in the circuit court, he was considered ;i sound counsellor, and is said to 
have settled more cases than any other attorney in the county tried in the 
court. He departed this life in 1896. 

Albert Fox came soon after Mr. Bennett. For some time he engaged 
in the active practice of the law, but later became interested in other pur- 
suits and was at one time editor of the Enterprise. He was prosecuting 
attorney from 1866 to 1868, and again in 1872. in which latter year he 
also served as circuit court commissioner. He held the office of county 
superintendent of schools in 1867-8. His death occurred in 1878. 

Christo])her C. Foutch was admitted to the bar February 29. 1868. in 
Mt. Pleasant, and engaged in the active jiractice of the law for several years. 
He afterwards removed to Cdaflwin county, where he engaged in the practice 
of the law and other ])urstn'ts until his death. 

Myron Mcl.arran came in the late sixties from f.enawee count\- and 
served as circuit court commissioner in 1868 and 1869. He was here but a 
few years and gave but little attention to law jiractice. being engaged in other 
business. He returned to Lenawee county and died there a short time 
afterward. 

John C. Leaton graduated from the L'niversity of Michigan in 1870 
ami came here in 1871, and uj) to the time of his death, in 1894. was in the 



128 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

active practice of tiie law, although a large portion of the latter years he 
was also engaged in real estate and lumbering. He has been universally 
judged to have possessed the brightest legal mind of any member of the 
bar. He served as president of Mt. Pleasant, but always refused any other 
office. 

Samuel W. Hopkins was graduated from the law department of the 
State University, and was admitted to the bar at Grand Rapids in 1872. Soon 
afterward he came to this county and began the practice of the law as a 
partner with Mr. Fancher. Later, he was associated in law successively 
with [Michael Devereaux, Wade B. Smith and Free Estee, hereinafter men- 
tioned. During the later years he gave the greater part of his time to real 
estate business. He served as prosecuting attorney in 1875-6 and was a 
member of the state House of Representatives in 1877-8-9 and 1880. He 
represented this senatorial district in the state Senate in 1893-4, and was 
chosen president pro tem. of that body for the term. 

Henry H. Graves graduated from the law department of the Louisville 
(Kentucky) University in 1869. He came here in 1871 and was admitted 
to the practice in January, 1872, and for many years was one of the most 
active practitioners at the bar of this and adjoining counties. He is con- 
sidered one of the ablest criminal lawyers in central Michigan. 

William X. Brown graduated from the State University in 1872, and 
soon afterward came to this county and entered into copartnership with 
John C. Leaton, above mentioned, and for many years the firm did a thriving 
law business, being engaged in much of the important litigation of the county. 
He was nominated by the Republican convention as a candidate for the 
state Senate in 1883, but declined the nominatinn. He has been extensively 
engaged in real estate and lumbering. 

Asa M. Tinker came to this county from Ohio in the middle seventies. 
He was prosecuting attorney in 1877 and 1878, and circuit court commis- 
sioner in 1875-6, 1879-80, 1881, and 1882. He was also justice of the 
peace for several years, as well in the township of Coe as in the city of Mt. 
Pleasant. In the middle eighties he moved to Harrison in Clare county, 
where he resided until the time of his death. 

Albert Coe came to the county from Eaton county and continued in 
the active practice of the law until a few years before his death. He was 
prosecuting attorney in 1889 ^"^1 1890. 

J. Rufus Smith came to the county early in the seventies from the 
county of Lenawee. He was a man of learning and, while well versed in 
the law. he never entered into the practice thereof in this countv except in 



ISABELLA COUNTY. M U II ICAX. I29 

connection with his uwn business, whicli was that of prixalc liankinsi;. He 
removed from here to Denver, Colorailo, wlicrc liis deatli occurred. 

I ). Scoll i'artridge was adiuitted to practice in \e\\ ^'ork in 1S74 and 
adnntted here in i'^75. He served for some years as justice of the (leace 
in Mt. Pleasant, practiced for some time, was at one time a member of tiie 
linn of l-'ancher. Dodds & Partridge, and after\v;ird> was for a numljer of 
years casliicr of tlie First Xational I'ank of .\ll. I'lc;i>ant. He removed 
from Iiere to CirantI Rapids, where lie now resides. 

jolm Maxwell came to the county in 1863 and was admitted in Janu- 
ary, 1S7O. He had lielil the office of sheriff in 1870 and afterwards the 
ofiice of county treasurer for seven years. He was elected judsjc of ])robate 
in 1888 and has held the office e\'er since. 

Michael l)c\ereaux graduated from the State L'ni\ersit\- in i87() and 
immediately came to this county. In 1878 he was elected pro.secuting attor- 
ney and afterwards served as secretary of the board of school examiners. 
For a great number of years he served as justice of the peace in Mt. 
Pleasant. 

Simeon C". lirown came to the county in the early seventies. He served 
as justice of the peace in the township of Coe and in Mt. Pleasant for 
several years. Was admitted in January. 187^1. and afterwards served as 
circuit court commissioner. He also served as clerk of the tax commission 
during a legislative term at Lansing, and was afterwards editor of the 
Xorlliwcstcni Tribune. 

Charles A. Brown, a son of the last above, was admitted in 1877. but 
never gave nuich attention to practice and died a few years after his admis- 
sion. He was a very bright young man. but was a victim of ill iiealth. 

Charles T. Rus.<ell was admitted to tlie bar at Charlotte, in Faton 
county, in 1877 and came here in 1878. In 1880 he served as village attorney 
of Mt. Pleasant, and in i88r as village president. He served as prosecuting 
attorney in 1883-4-5-f) and again in 1907-8. He served as postmaster in 
the city of Mt. Pleasant four years, from 1894 to i8<)8. He has been 
engaged in much of the contested and important litiy:,ition of the countv 
since he came here. 

Wade B. Smith was admitted May 14. 1878, and practiced for .several 
years, a portion ijf the time being in i)artnership with S. W. Hopkins. He 
removed from here to Fmmet county, where he still resides. 

b'rank I". Hibbard was admitted in January. i87(). but most of the 
time afterward devoted bis time to real otatc and insurance. He died 
in 1908. 

(9) 



130 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

A. L. Deuel was admitted in 1879; was in the county but a short time 
afterward and removed to Harbor Springs, in Emmet count)-, where he 
has since resided. 

F. H. Dodds graduated from the State University in 1880. Soon 
afterwards he commenced the practice of law in this county and, except 
for a short inter\'al, has been in practice here ever since. He was elected 
to the House of Representatives of the United States in 1908 and re-elected 
in 1910. 

Fred F. Huntress was admitted in 1881, practiced here for some years 
and mo\ed to Duluth. He is now living in Portland, Oregon. 

Fred Russell was admitted in 1881. He served as circuit court com- 
missioner several terms and also as county school commissioner. He was 
in partnership for some years with his brother, Charles T. Russell, and 
afterward with E. D. \Mieaton. Of late years he has been giving his atten- 
tion to other business. 

Free Estee graduated from the State University in 1879, practiced for 
a time in Ohio and in 1881 came to this county and formed a copartnership 
with S. W. Hopkins. Afterward he served as justice of the peace for 
several }-ears, and was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1885-6. 
He died in 1897. 

George E. Dodds was admitted in 1882 and A\as a member for some 
time of the firm of Dodds Brothers. He afterwards moved to Colorado, 
where he now resides. 

W. I. Dodds was admitted in 1883. Soon afterwards he went into the 
business of real estate, which was continued until his death in 1894. 

Cyrus E. Russell came to the county in 1882. He served several terms 
as circuit court commissioner and was prosecuting attorney for four years. 
He served a great many years as justice of the peace, which office he 
still holds. 

Bert L. Parkhill was admitted in 1884. He served as circuit court 
commissioner in 1895-6. He was engaged for a number of years in the 
banking business, and now occupies the position of bookkeeper in the Gorham 
Brothers Company of the city of Mt. Pleasant. 

Herbert A. Sanford was admitted to the bar in 1S87 and since that 
time has been engaged almost exclusi\-ely in the active practice of his pro- 
fession. He was prosecuting attorney from 1891 to 1894. inclusive. He 
has been engaged in most of the criminal litigation of the county, Init is 
not at all confined to it, as he has a large civil practice. In his treatment 
of court and counsel in court, his courtesy is always noticeal;)le. 



ISABELLA COLXTV, MICHIGAN. I3I 

Elijah D. Wlieaton was admitted at Farwell in Jul\-. 1874, aiul moved 
to this county late in the eighties, when he commenced active practice. ha\ing 
a large acquaintance in tlic noilhcrn part of this county. I le was prosecuting 
attorney in 1895-189O. ]\ir. Wheaton was a forceful advocate hefore a 
jury, and at the same time was well versed in the law. He died at his 
home in Mt. Pleasant. July 4. 1901. 

Albert A. Lo\elan(l was admitted in 1888. He has hcen justice of 
the peace and circuit court commissioner for a great many years. Jii.s 
practice, however, has been largely in the pension department of the United 
States. 

Thomas Costello was admitted in June, 1889, and at once entered the 
active practice of the law, and up to the time of his death perhaps was engagetl 
in as many cases as any other attorney that ever practiced at this bar. 

Oscar F. Sheldon came to the county from Blissfield in Lenawee couiitv. 
where he had practiced many years. He remained here in active practice 
for more than ten years. He is now in jiractice in Colorado. 

M. M. Larmouth was admitted in 1894. Almo.st immediately there- 
after he moved to Sault Ste. Marie, where he has since been in practice. 

George Reed was for four years county clerk of this county. He was 
admitted in January, 1895: practiced here some years; was appointed receiver 
of the First National Bank of Ithaca, and after closing up the business 
thereof, he moved to the Up])er Peninsula, where he still resides. 

Lewis E. Royal graduated from the State University and was admitted 
to the bar at Ann Arbor in June, 1896, and immediately afterwards engaged 
in the practice of the law in this county. Afterward he moved tc FJes 
Moines, Iowa, and still resides in that state. 

Edward W. Grewett was admitted in Roscommon county in May, 1887, 
and practiced there for several years. Afterwards, for a time, he resided 
in this county, and thence moved to Marion, in the county of Osceola, where 
he still resides. 

Patrick H. Kelley was graduated from the law department of the univer- 
sity and was admitted to the bar in the supreme court in April, 1899, residing 
here for a short time thereafter. He then moved to Detroit and was en- 
gaged in the practice of the law for several years. From there he moved to 
the city of Lansing, where he is still in active practice. He was appointed 
as a member of the .state board of education by Governor Bliss; was after- 
wards elected to that office for one term, and then elected as superintendent 
of public instruction, serving one term. He has been twice elected as 
lieutenant-governor of the state, which position he still holds. 



132 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Bruce C. Shorts graduated from the law department of the uni\ersit\- 
and was afterwards admitted to the bar at Lansing in 1901. Soon afterward 
he moved to tiie city of Seattle in Washington, where he has since been 
engaged in an active and lucrative practice. For some time he has held 
the position of assistant city attorney. 

F. H. Dusenbury was admitted in 1902, and since that time has lieen 
in actixe practice in the county. He served as prosecuting attorney from 
1905-1908, and was elected a member of the state Legislature in 1908, and 
again in 19 10. 

Rov D. Matthews graduated from the uni\ersity in 1902 and was 
adnn'tted in the supreme court at Lansing, in June of the same year. He 
came to this county in 1903 and practicetl his profession at Shepherd until, 
in 1908, he was elected prosecuting attorney. He then moved to INIt. Pleasant 
and has since been in the actixe practice of the law in that cit\". He was 
re-elected to the same office in 19 10. 

Perry Shorts graduated from the State University in 1906. He remained 
but a short time in this county after his admission to the bar and removed 
to Kansas City, Kansas, from where, after a short interval, he remo\-ed to 
Saginaw, in this state, where he has been in active practice, though largely 
engaged in insiu'ance law and practice. 

Amasa K. Brown was admitted at Lansing in 1903. He practiced for 
a few vears in tliis county. mo\'ed thence to the West, and afterwards took 
u]) his residence in Cliicag(.i. where he is now engaged in other lines of 
business. 

1*". B. Dodds graduated from the law department of the State University 
in iqoj, and was admitted to the bar at Lansing in June of that year. After 
a short residence in this county he mo\ed to Spokane, Washington, where 
he has since been engaged in the practice of his profession. 

Douglas H. Nelson graduated from the University of Michigan in 
1908, and aluKJst immediate!}' thereafter mo\-ed to the state of Washington, 
wliere he has since resided. 

George McHugh came t(j this county in 1899, and was for a time 
engaged in the law practice in copartnership with Mr. Fancher. After a 
short stay here he renio\'ed to Port Huron. 

Xorris J. Brown came t<i the county from Grand Rapids, where he 
had long been in practice. He has the management of the Mt. Pleasant 
Light & Fuel Com])an)-. and has given little attention to the law business 
since his arrival here. 

Frank ]\T. Burwash caiue to the count\- from Chicago and brought with 



ISABi:i.I,A fOlWTV. MKIIKIAN. T 33 

him a large and valuable legal experience. He entered into CDpartnership 
with Mr. Fanclier and the firm is carrying on .succe.ssfull\- a large general 
practice. 

PROliATK JIDGES. 

On the organization o\ the county in \X^^). Janics W'ilsey, a farmer 
and resident of the township of Coe. was elected judge of probate to serve 
the remainder of the term. Judge W'ilsey, with several others, had arrived 
in the county on October lo. 1854. and took up a homestead in the township 
of Coe. where he resided until his deruh. 

Perrv H. Estee, the second one to occupy that otifice. was elected in 
the fall of i860 and served a term of four years. He came into the county 
soon after Judge Wilsey and was the first person to locate land within the 
township of Coe. This was done in October. 1854. and the location was 
the northwest quarter of section 18, in township 13 north, of range 3 west 
(Coe township). Judge Estee was always a farmer, and was identified for 
manv vears with the pohtical interests of the county. 

William H. Nelson succeeded Judge Estee and occupied the office from 
1865 to 1868. He lived for some years at Isabella City and afterward at 
Mt. Pleasant. He was the father of Douglas H. Xelson, for many years 
one of the leading business men of the county. As stated above, he licld 
the office of the county clerk during the second term after the county was 
organized. 

Richard Hoy. of the tnwnship nf Coe. was elected judge of jirobate 
in 1868. and served for one term. Judge Hoy was one of the early settlers 
of the county and had been elected and served as county treasurer during 
the first term after the organization of the county. During most of his 
life he was a farmer. He died in 1909, at the age of eighty-three. 

William W'. Struble. of the township nf Chippewa, succeeded Judge 
Hoy on the ist day of January. 1873. and presided during one term. He 
was also a farmer and one of the early settlers of the county. 

John O. A. Johnson was elected in the fall of 1876. and also served 
fine term, and was the sixtli farmer U> Imld that dflice in this county. He 
li\ed during the last years of his life on his farm in the township of Union. 

Cornelius Bennett, who has been mentioned above, was elected in the 
fall of 1880 and re-elected in if<84. He was the first lawyer to occupy 
the oflfice. 



134 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

John Maxwell, a sketch of whom has been given above, w^as elected 
as successor to Judge Bennett in 1888 and has held the office to the 
present time. 

EARLY CASES IN CIRCUIT COURT. 

As stated alxjve, the first cause on the law side of the court was heard 
at Isabella Center on the 14th day of January, i860, ]>y Hon. W'illjur F. 
Woodworth, then circuit judge. The cause was entitled "Charles B. Young, 
Plaintiff, vs. Township of Isabella, Defendant." L. P. Bailey, of Midland, 
appeared for the plaintiff, and Nelson Mosher for the defendant. A motion 
was first made to amend the declaration, which being granted, the cause 
proceeded and judgment was finally entered in favor of the plaintiff, Charles 
B. Young, for the sum of one hundred and one dollars and two cents. No 
jury was empaneled. Ir\ing E. Arnold was then county clerk and entered 
the judgment, which was in the regular form. 

The next proceeding that shows upon the calendar was on July 23, 1861. 
when Isaac Marsten, who was not a resident attorney of the county at the 
time, was appointed prosecuting attorney for the time being, no other prose- 
cuting attorney being present. Mr. Alarsten was afterwards elected attorney 
general of the state, and later, a justice of the supreme court, where he served 
for many years. 

The first jury case, as sho\\n liy the journal, liegan on the 28th day of 
February. 1862. This entry, however, is evidently an error, and it should 
have read the 28th day of January, as the following days in the journal 
show. The court was presided over by Judge Birney, who, before proceed- 
ing with the regular work of the court, approved the appointment made by 
William H. Nelson, then clerk of the court, of Douglas H. Nelson as his 
deputy clerk. The cause was entitled "Louis Bright, Plaintiff, vs. George 
Hursh, Defendant," and the action was one of trespass. A jury was em- 
paneled, consisting of A. M. Merrill, Patrick Cleary, H. Sherman, Horace 
Handy, John B. Walton, Samuel Leonard, John Alouser, L. D. Handv, 
George W. Jeffries, Silas Fosgate, R. J. Hill and Henry Gulick. The cause 
M-as submitted to the jury on January 29th and on January 30th thev gave 
their verdict, "Guilty of Trespass," and awarded the ])laintiff damages of 
six dollars above his costs. Nelson Mosher appeared for the plaintiff and 
Tompkins & iMarsten were attorneys for the defendant, Hursh. 

Afterwards, and at the same term, was tried the first criminal case 
ever tried in the circuit court in the county. It was entitled "The People 
of the State of Michigan vs. Tnlm \\'ade." The charge was larcenv. A 



isahei.i.a corxTV, Michigan. 135 

jury was empaneled consisting of H. Gulick, I. E. Arnold, A. G. Ferris, 
A. M. Merrill. C. A. Atkins, S. Fosgate. J. R. Walton. II. Handy, S. 
Leonard. Tatrick Cleary, L. D. Handy and R. J. Hill. Jo.seph Miser was 
the officer swnrn to take charge of the jury, who, after being absent for a 
time, retnrned into conrt and gave their \erdict of "Guilty." Afterwards, 
and ui)on the same day, the defendant was sentenced to serve eighteen months 
at the state prison in Jackson. 

The hrst chancery ilecrce was made on the 24th day of January, i860, 
by Judge Woodworth, hereinbefore mentioned. It was entitled "Caleb Ives 
and Albert Ives vs. Josh T. Copeland, May I. Copeland. Simuel Copeland. 
Timothy Baker, Jr., and Xelson P. Stewart." The bill was filed to foreclose 
a mortgage upon the west half of the southeast (juarter and the northeast 
(|uarter of the southeast quarter of section 10, and the south half of the 
southwest quarter and the southeast (juarter of the southeast quar- 
ter of section 11, and the north half of the northwest quarter 
of section 14, in township 14 north, of range 4 west, which township. is named 
the township of Union. The report of the commissioner submitted to the 
judge, com])uted the amount due on the mortgage as one thousand five hun- 
dred se\enty-two dollars and forty-two cents, antl the decree was for that 
amount. The sale was to be made on or before January 18, 1861. George 
F. Hemingway, of Midland. Michigan, appeared as solicitor for the com- 
plainant. 

The first divorce case as ap]:)ears on the calendar was filed on the j()th 
day of August, 1865. \\'illiam Chatfield was complainant and May Chatfield 
was defendant. Xelson Mosher appeared for the complainant, but no one 
appeared for the defendant. The decree was made by Judge Sutherland, 
then judge of the circuit, on the 12th day of January, 1867. The parties 
were both Indians. On the same day a decree of divorce was granted to 
May .\. Sanders from her husband, Thomas Sanders, though the bill was 
filed after the Chatfield case. J. A. I-'ulmer appeared for the complainant and 
the case was heard by default. 

INTERESTING C.'VSES IN CIRCUIT COLRT. — THE "hURSh" CASE. 

The land upon which the Central Michigan State Normal School is 
located has a history. It was patented to John M. Hursh on March 10. 
1856, and afterwards, in 1871, was conveyed by him to his wife, Elizabeth 
Hursh. through certain mesne conveyances. In 1872, Mrs. Hursh gave 
her said husband a power of attorney to sell and convey all her real estate 



136 ISABELLA COrXTV, MICHIGAN. 

within the countv. Afterward, and in the said year, said John M. Hursh 
made and execnted to one John Jeffrey an instrument, in form a deed, of 
said lantl with other lands, and received back an instrument, in form a land 
contract, for the reconx'eyance upon condition of the repayment of three 
thousand five hundred forty-one dollars and forty-six cents. There were 
mortgages upon said land at the time of the transfer from Hursh to liis 
wife, and a part of said consideration went to pay them. 

After the death of John Jeffrey, a portion of his estate, including above 
instrument, was purchased by John Scriven of St. Johns. Michigan, and in 
187C) he filed a Ijill for the foreclosure of the same as a mortgage, and a 
decree was rendered upon default. Afterward, however, application was 
made to open the case, and upon appeal to the supreme court the defendants 
were given the right to answer (39 Mich. 98). Thereupon the complainant 
dismissed his case and an action of ejectment was begun liy the same attor- 
neys in the name of the minor heirs of said Jeffrey, deceased, against Elizabeth 
Hnrsh and Robert Hillock, the latter having, in the meantime, purchased from 
Mrs. Hursh upon a contract. 

At the trial of the eiectment suit, when the e\idence was all in, the 
court left it to the jury to determine whether the transaction between John 
M. Hursh and John Jeffrey was a mortgage transaction or a sale upon con- 
dition. The jur}' found it a mortgage and gave their \-erdict for Hursh 
and Hillock, but on appeal to the supreme court the judgment was re\'ersed 
on the stated grounds that the instrument, being a deed in form, carried 
possession, and holding that if defendants had any remed)-, it was in equity 
(42 Micii. 563). The case, when it came on for trial the second time, 
inxohed the validity of a tax title which the supreme court held on appeal 
was not a good defense in the hands of the defendants (45 Mich. 59). 

On the third trial in the circuit, the defendants contended that inasmuch 
as the instrument between Hursh and Jeffrey was intended as a mortgage, 
it was \oid because the power of attorney from Mrs. Hursh to her husband 
gave no power to mortgage. On ap]3eal this position was sustained by the 
supreme court and the case was returned for trial. This Cjuestion was 
never l;efore decided in this state (49 Mich. 31). 

At the next trial the defendants prevailed and thereupon the plaintiffs 
l^aid the costs, and under the statute took a new trial. The case was then 
on the application of said plaintiffs transferred to the county of Bay. In 
the Bay circuit the jur_\-. under the charge of the court, found the instrument 
a deed and judgment passed for plaintiffs, but upon appeal it was reversed, 
the supreme court holding that on the questions in\oIved, the instrument 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MI( UlCAN. 1 3" 

nnist lie lield to be inteiuled as a mortgage as a matter of law. and final 
judgment was entered for defendants in tlie court below (58 Mich. 246). 

TIiereu])cin Jnhn Scri\cn again filed his bill in eciuit\-. and decree ])assed 
for him for such amount of the consideration of three thousand rive hundred 
f(5rty-one dollars and forty-six cents as had been used to pay the former 
mortgages, and the title was forever <|uieted in Kulicrt Hillock, who in the 
meantime had received a full warranty deed from Hursh (68 Mich. 176). 

In the above litigation. Spaulding & Cranson. of St. Johns, represented 
the Jeffrey-Scriven interests, and Brown & Leaton and Fancher & FJodds 
that of Hursh and Hillock. 

THE ■'shawboose'' case. 

The above case was of great im])iirtance in this cnunty, where six t<iwn- 
ships were reserved for the Indians. Jacob Shawboose. an Indian of the 
band of Chippewas, by treaty was entitled to and had made a selection of 
the land in question in that case. The treaty provided that on selection 
being made, the agent for the Indians should di\ide the jiersons selecting 
into two classes, those who were by training considered "competent" to 
manage their own afifairs v.ere to be so designated, and those who were 
not were to be designated "not so competent." A "not so conipeteut" could 
not alienate his land without the consent of the secretar\- of the interior 
for the time being. Before the designation had been made, Shawboose 
sold the timber to complainants and the land to defendants. After the 
designation was made and Shawboose had been denominated competent, he 
made a further deed to complainants. The t\\<i conveyances made before 
Shawboose was demiminated comjietent by the commissioner of Indian af- 
fairs, were held void, although they contained co\enant of warranty, and 
the line made afterward was held to be valid (34 Mich. 142). 

John J. ^\'lleeler. of Saginaw, appeared as solicitor for com|)lainant, 
( ieorge Raymond, et al.. and Jt)hn C. Leaton and William X. Brown appeared 
for the ilefendants. Hill and Gamble. 

the WILLIAMS CASE. 

.\ \cry im|)ortaut case to Isabella county was decided by the supreme 
court in iS()_>. Previous to this time it had been the custom to assess for 
taxes Indian lands that had been classified as "not so competent." The 
])ateuts to these lands contained the following clause: "That the land shall 



138 .ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

never be sold or alienated to any person or persons whomsoever, without 
the consent of the secretary of the interior, for the time being." The auditor- 
general's department had maintained that these lands were subject to taxa- 
tion. They had been taxed for years, and returned and sold for the taxes. 
For the purpose of having the matter judicially determined, a friendly suit 
was maintained, and the court held that these lands were not subject to 
taxation. The case is reported under the title "Auditor-General vs. Sarah 
Williams," and reported in Vol. 94, page 180, of the Michigan Reports. 
H. A. Sanford represented the auditor-general, and I. A. Fancher and 
United States District Attorney T. F. Shepherd, who was directed to rep- 
resent the Indian department, appeared for the Indian woman, Sarah Wil- 
liams. This decision was afterwards discussed by the cabinet at Washington, 
and declared in harmony with the ideas of the federal government. 



CHAPTER IX. 



RAILROADS IN ISABELLA COTNTV. 



Let tile dirt roads be as good as they may, yet they do imt meet all of 
the necessities of a growing, thriving country. Cheaper and ([uicker trans- 
portation is needed for both business and travel. Isabella began, along about 
the seventies, to feel tlie need of a railroad. One was headed toward the 
county, but was to only touch the northeast portion of it. 

This road was the Flint & Pere Afarquette, a land grant road, where a 
strip of land embracing each alternate section for six miles on either side 
of the center line of said road was granted by the United States government 
to the state of Alichigan June 3, 1856, to aid in the construction of railroads 
in the state, and by the state accepted by an act of the Legislature of Februarj' 
a corres|ionding amount of land turned over to them. The line was graded 
through this county in 1870 and the track laid in 1871. The line entered 
the county at or near Coleman, about three and one-half miles south of the 
northeast corner of the county, running thence in a west and northerly 
direction, leaving the county about one and one-half miles west of the north- 
east corner of the township of Vernon, thence running along west near the 
north county line to Farwell, thence continuing a little north of west until it 
left Clare county some four or five miles north of the northwest corner of 
Isabella county. It will be seen that it embraced quite a scope of country 
l>elonging to Isabella. 

It was a great road for lumbermen. Its full capacity was at times used 
for the transportation of logs from the pineries to the great banking grounds 
along the Titabawassa river and the Saginaw. It was of small benefit to 
Isabella except it was an outlet that was finally reached liy building first a 
narrow gauge from Mt. Pleasant to Coleman, a distance of fifteen miles. 
This road was constructed in the year 1879 under the name of the Saginaw 
& Mt. Pleasant. Jesse Hoyt, of Xew 'N'ork, was president : I. A. Fancher. 
of Mt. Pleasant, vice-president, and William L. Webber, of Saginaw, secre- 
tary and treasurer. It was afterward widened to a standard gauge and 
became a part of the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway system, now the Pere 
Marquette. It was a happy day for the i)e<i])le of Mt. Pleasant and vicinity 



140 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

when they felt that tliey were in touch again with the outside world by the 
bands of steel. The enterprise cost about one hundred and thirty thousand 
dollars, and the peojile of Alt. Pleasant were required to furnish fifteen 
thousand dollars and the right-of-way, also depot grounds. The fifteen thou- 
sand dollars was furnished by subscription, and the right-of-way was secured 
and paid for by Cornelius Bennett, George L. Granger and I. A. Fancher. 
The work was completed on the 8th day of December, 1879, and was opened 
for business on the 15th day of December. Business was suspended, busi- 
ness houses closed, and every one was out with a broad smile on his radiant 
countenance. The incoming train, with the officials of the road, was met 
at the depot. An adflress of welcome \vas made by the president of the 
village, John C. Leaton; Maj. J- ^^'■ Dong acted as marshal, who formed 
the parade as follows: First, the Alt. Pleasant band; second, president and 
common council of the village; third, steam fire engine; fourth, the hook 
and ladder company; sixth, citizens on foot; seventh, citizens in carriages. 
The procession formed at the depot and marched to the court house, where 
William N. Brown delivered a \ery pleasing address, followed by Dr. H. 
C. Potter, of Saginaw, one of the railroad officials, D. H. Nelson, of Alt. 
Pleasant, and I. A. Fancher, vice-president of the road. In the evening 
the town was illumined and W. X. Brown threw open his dwelling for a 
reception, at which, with the host and hostess, assisted by Mrs. I. A. Fancher, 
JMrs. C. Bennett, Mrs. J. W. Dong. Airs. J. C. Deaton, Airs. \\\ S. Hunt 
and Airs. J. R. Doughty, the assembled crowd was received and a most 
delightful evening was spent in honor of the occasion. The coming of the 
railroad was the dawn of a new era for Alt. Pleasant and e\-ery class of 
business took on new life and vigor. The county as well as the city felt 
the impulse for better things ; lands were increased in value ; town lots were 
advanced in value; manufacturing enterprises sought locations; timber was 
made of some value ; the farmer felt a new impulse to clear and improve his 
farm now that he could reach an outside market. 

The next railroad enterprise to look toward building a road into Isabella 
county was the Ann Arbor, or, more properly speaking, the Toledo & Ann 
Arbor. This road, under the direction and leadership of Governor Ashlev, 
of Toledo, Ohio, had lieen creeping along from Toledo, north, during the 
latter seventies and fore part of the eighties, and had finally reached Owosso, 
when they picked up the stock, franchise and right-of-way of a road that 
had been commenced at Owosso, running thence to Ithaca and so on to Alma, 
and thence to Alt. Pleasant. That road had graded a track from Owosso 
to Ithaca, and ]iart of the wa}' from Ithaca to Alma, and had surve^-ed a 



ISABKI.LA COl'XTV. MICHU'.AX. I4I 

line i>n til Mt. Pleasant: a consi(leral)le pnrtiDii of the liiK' had also hcen 
tietl hut at'tcr this ha<l all hcen dnne, nnder the claim ot' tlic dfiicers >i\ the 
road that the Michigan Central Railroad Conipan\- would .guarantee the 
honds and furnish the iron and rolling stock, the said coni[)any tlatly refused 
to do anything of the kind and the project proved a failure. The Toledo 
S: Ann Arhur road, finding it in tiiat condition, proposed to take the fran- 
chise, stock and road hed and complete the same. This heing what the 
])cople desired, they readily turned o\cr all to them and the Tcjledo & .\mi 
ArlxM- proceeded to construct the same from Owosso to Ithaca. .\t that 
])oint thev proposed to run to St. Louis instead of continuing on the old 
line to .\lma. Th;it did not please the .\lma i)eoi)le. and .Messrs. .\. W. 
Wright. W. S. Tin-k. James dargett. \\'illiam X. Brown, John A. Harris 
and others organized the Lansing. .\!ma. Mt. Pleasant and Xorthern Railroad 
Company. They conseipiently ahandoned the old line to Alma and ran their 
line to St. Louis, and from there turned west and ran on the north side of 
Alma and thence to Mt. Pleasant, reaching that point ahont 1885. 

The northei-n tenniini> remained at .Mt. I'leasant until thc\- located an 
extension to the city of Clare, some fifteen miles north, where they crossed 
the Pere Marquette road: from there they continued the line on to Cadillac 
and thence to Frankfort on Lake Michigan. Xot long after they had com- 
])leted their line of road to the lake they felt the necessity of an outlet across 
the lake and then it was that the Ashlc\s conceived the idea of Iniilding a 
ferry boat of sufficient power and capacity to trans])ort a train of loaded 
cars across the lake without h.reaking hulk. The\' built a boat, made the 
trial and it proved successful. It then became a demonstrated fact and will 
remain so for all time to come. 

.\l)out the year 1875 a branch of the Detroit. Lansing & Xorthern was 
started from Ionia, running to Stanton. Edmore. Blanchard. Millbreak and 
thence northwest to Remus and Big Rapids. I'his road ga\e an outlet to 
the south and west portion of the count}' and was afterward, about 1893. 
increased by a branch from Remus to Bundy and W'eidman. a distance from 
Remus of thirteen miles. This branch serxed as an outlet for the 
lumber of the country in and about W'eidman and also for the farm products 
raised in a large i)ortion of Xottaway. Gilmore, Sherman. Deerfield and 
Broomfield townships, 'fhere was also a branch ])ut into Brinton from the 
Pere Manpiette for the ])urpose of shii)i)ing out the charcoal made at the 
village of Brinton. That branch was of much service and profit to the 
people in and around the \illagc. as it gave labor to a large number of people 
in cutting, hauling and burning the word into charcoal. This industry also 



142 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

made a market tor tliousands of cords of wood that otherwise would ha\-e 
had to be cut and burned in fallow without the owner recei\'ing an}- revenue 
from the timber. It lightened the burden of the farmer and enabled him 
to more quickly convert his timber land into crop-producing condition, where- 
by he could obtain some revenue from his land as a husbandman. The last 
branch of road was, after it had served its purpose, discontinued and 
remo\'ed. 



CHAPTER X. 

l-.|irc.\ ■ lOX I.N ISAI'.KI.LA COLXTV. 

Education is. 1 believe, paramount to almost any other subject that w ill 
be written about in this history. It is a matter that should and does interest 
the great mass of people. There is no other matter that can take hold of 
the people as strongly and ner\e them to action so effectuall\- as this. The 
thirst for it came with the early settler when he moved into the county, and 
it has continued and has grown with the growth of the country. If \\e 
go back to the early settlement of the county and examine the means of 
education witiiin the reach of the children, that were destined to form one 
of the principal elements in our social system, we shall necessarily find it 
crude and uncongenial. Nothing to invite the youth by a log building and 
plank seat, without map or chart, and almost without a teacher: with no 
guide through the \\o(^ds liut an Indian trail or a blazed line. Lkit. crude 
and uninviting as it was, it found young America with his usual amount of 
force and will, equal to the task, and bent on preparing himself for the 
burdens yet to be borne by him when he should take upon himself the 
responsibilities of full citizenship. The first schoolhouse built was in the 
township of Coe. on the southeast quarter of section 9. township 13. range 3. 
and was taught by Caroline Kilburn, who received her certificate from 
Richard Hoy and George W'. Miller, inspectors, and was dated May 5, 1857. 
From this time they spread over the county as the settlements acquired 
sufficient number of school children to demand. One was l)uilt on the north- 
west corner of the northeast quarter of section 27. township 14. range 4, 
at a i)oint about where William Crowley now lives, and was taught by 
Elizabeth Gulick. In 1858-9 I. E. Arnold built four schoolhouses for the 
United States government for the use of the Indians. One was called the 
Mission school and was just west of the present Indian school. This one 
was taught for three or four years by a Miss Hinds, she boarding witii i\ev. 
George Bradley. This school was afterwards taught by Addie Wilder. 

About i860 a schoolhouse was built in Coe township, on the west side 
of section 7. and known as the Drake schoolhouse. Also one on the south- 



144 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

west corner of section 2, and kni:)\vn as the Abljott schoolhouse. Also one 
on the northeast corner of section 35. and known as the W'ilhanis schoolhouse. 
In Chippewa there was the Taylor schoolhouse. situated on the northwest 
corner of section 29. Also one on the east side of the same section, known 
as the Landan schoolhouse. As the settlement worked west into Union 
township, other schoolhouses were built. In the early si.xties one was huilt 
on the west side of section 26. known as the Bouton schoolhouse. This is a 
district that has acquired some prominent as being where Judge Dodds taught 
for some time, and where he wooed and won his helpmate. Going a little 
farther west, we have the Gulick schoolhouse. and a little farther west the 
Johnson schoolhouse, named after John 0. A. Johnson, one of the oldest 
residents and one who held se\-eral important offices, among them judge of 
probate, also sheriff, as well as justice of the ])eace. Then _\'ou get further 
south into the township of Lincoln, we ha\e the Hoover schoolhouse, on 
section 14. Also, in the same township, the Center schoolhouse, on section 
16. A little farther west was' the Pine schoolhouse and on the south side of 
section 19 the Titus schoolhouse. ]\Io\'ing west into the township of Fre- 
mont, we have the Caldwell schoolhouse, on section 2, and. crossing the swamp 
west of Winn, we get the Garner schoolhouse. and southwest from there the 
Peterson schoolhouse, in the township of Roliand, named after W'iUiam M. 
Peterson, one of the first settlers of that part of the county. Going north 
into Broomfield, we have the Broomfield schoolhouse. named after the father 
of that township, and who is still living in the western part of the county. 
As we journey on north with the tide of emigration, we next come to the 
Hummel settlement, where is located the school named after them: going- 
then into Sherman, the next early school was the Wooden school, named 
after Henr}- Wooden, one of the early pioneers of that town, and who was 
energetic and liberal in school matters. Going farther up the Chippewa 
river to Sherman City, we find the school located at that burg. 

Along in the sixties there was a small settlement established in Gilmore 
township, and with it a school district or districts formed ; one known as 
the Glass district, after Rufus F. Glass, on the south side of section 14: one 
on the southeast corner of section 26, known as the Scofield, and one on the 
southwest corner of section 2. known as the Beach. These were established 
as the settlements were formed and are known as the earlier schools estab- 
lished, and also as the central places where each second _\"ear the various ])o- 
litical parties would hold their political school for educating and persuading 
the inhabitants to meander over into their particular fold. 

The schools did not increase very fast until after 1871-2, when the Indian 



ISABELLA COl'NTV, M HI! IC.W. I45 

lands Ijcjjan lo Ijo sold and lunibercd ov sclllod upon, and Ihc pine lands of 
the county were being lumbered ; then the fanners began to occupy and 
develop the farming lands more rapidly. 

As soon as i<S6~, on the 27th day of Deccmijcr. there was held at Mt. 
Pleasant a teachers' institute, under the su])ervision of Albert Fox. the then 
county school superintendent, at which ten teachers were present. A good 
deal of interest was manifested and afterward, through the influence of 
C. O. Curtis, then superintendent of schools, a state teachers" institute was 
held at .Mt. Pleasant. State Superintendent Oramel Ilosford and Professor 
Estahrook. of the State Xornial School, being present. This was a most 
instructive and entertaining meeting, and created a good deal of enthusiasm 
among the teachers of the county. At this institute there were fifty-four 
teachers in attendance and forty-five schools of the count}- represented. 

In 1876 there were in the county fift_\'-tbree school districts: number 
of log .schoolhou.ses. twenty, and twenty-eight frame buildings, some of them 
as fine as can he found outside of the cities. There were two thousand one 
himdred and nineteen scholars, as shown by the school census of 1874, then 
in the county. 

.\t the present writing. November. 1910, there are, exclusive of the 
schools of the city of Mt. Pleasant, one hundred and six school districts, 
distributed as follows: T^roomfield township has nine: Chippewa, nine: Coe. 
eight: Coldwater. se\en ; Deerfield. nine: l)en\er. se\en : Fremont. se\en : 
Gilmore. five: Lsabella. six: Lincoln, .seven: Xottaway. six: Rolland. seven: 
Sherman, four: Union, five: Vernon, six, and Wise, four. 

In Mt. Pleasant the finst school was taught by Ellen I.. W'oodworth 
in the summer of 1864. and by Celia E. Preston the following winter. There 
were some twenty scholars in a log school building built by John Kinney, one 
of our oldest citizens, living at the present time in the city, but who at that 
time was lumbering in this vicinity. He owned several pieces of timber land 
on section 15, which is the one that the first plat was laid out upon. 

.\s early as December 25. 1863. the school inspectors of the township 
of Union laid ofif the following territory into district No. i. bounded as 
follows: Sections 13. 14. 13. 16, 17. 18. iKjrth half of nj. north half of 20, 
north half of 21. north half of 22. north half of 23. and north half of 24. The 
first meeting was ajjpointed to be held on the i6th day of January. 1864. 
at the court house in Mt. Pleasant. Due notice was given and the meeting 
held, at which the following officers were elected, viz.: Milton Bradley, 
moderator: I. A. Fancher. director, and F. G. H. Meisler, asses.sor. H. .\. 
Dnnlon was made chairman and X. Mosher. clerk of the meeting. At that 
(10) 



146 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

meeting there were present the following gentlemen : John Mouser, J. P. 
Case, Mr. Geer, M. V. B. Sherman, A. Yale, Mr. Kinney, E. Bradley, 
George Bradley, J. Saunders, I. A. Fancher, H. A. Dunton and H. 
Morton. 

On Tanuarv 16, 1864, a special school meeting was called for the pur- 
pose of locating a schoolhouse site. This was signed by H. A. Dunton, 
E. G. H. Meisler. N. Mosher, I. A. Fancher and M. V. B. Sherman. 
Notices were duly posted for the 27th day of January, 1864, at which time 
the district met and located the site on the southeast corner of block 24, Mt. 
Pleasant, on lots i and 2. Messrs. Harvey and George Morton, proprietors 
of the village plat, \-ery generously donated the two lots selected by the 
district. A meeting was duly called and held on the 5th day of April, 1864, 
for the ])urpose of raising money to build a suitable school building. L. 
Bentley mo\ed that three hundred dollars be raised for that purpose, which 
was dulv carried. John Kinney moved to adjourn till the next Monday to 
make arrangements to build, which carried. At the adjourned meeting 
Messrs. Lance. Mosher and W. W. Preston were elected a building com- 
mittee to see to the erection of a school Iniilding according to the plans 
and specifications of the board. 

On May i, 1864, Ellen L. Woodworth was contracted with to teach 
the school. In September the district met and voted to raise thirty-fi\-e dollars 
for contingent purposes, one hundred dollars for teachers' wages and thirty- 
two dollars to pay the indebtedness of the district. The erection of the 
school building was let to H. T. Sherman for eight hundred and forty- 
seven dollars. 

There was paid to the teacher, Mrs. Woodworth, during 1864 at one 
time thirty-si.x dollars and fifty cents, and at another time thirty-four dollars 
and twenty-five cents, and to C. E. Preston, ninety-six dollars, as teacher in 
the old log school building, and to ^Ir. Kinne}' sixteen dollars and fifty cents 
for rent. Then they moved into the new building and on the 25th day of 
September, 1865, they contracted with Miss Lydia \[. Frary to teach ten 
weeks of school at five dollars and twenty-five cents per week. At the same 
date the board established the following text-books to be used in the school : 
Orthography, Webster's Dictionary: reading books, Sanders' series of Union 
Readers ; Greene's Elements of English Grammar ; Clark's Rhetoric and 
Composition; Kane's Elements of Criticism; Wilson Treatise on Punctua- 
tion: Davis' New School Arithmetic and Davis' University Arithmetic; 
Mitchell's Outline Maps and School Geography; Wilson's History of the 
United States; \\'ells' Natural Philosophy; Wood's Botany; Wayland's 
Moral Science. 



ISABELLA COr.NTV. M U II IC, AN. I47 

After the term of Miss Frary expired, S. E. Clay was liired to teacli 
for some time and on May 14, 1866, said Clay was contracted with to teach a 
summer term of sixteen weeks at tliirty-five dollars per school month. 

At the annual school meeting in Septeml)er. 1866. Cornelius Bennett 
was elected director and \elson Moslier as moderator. It was m()\ed tliat 
we have five months of winter school and by a male teaciier, and that we 
ha\e four months' summer school. Also that we raise one dollar per scholar 
to pav teachers' wages. It was also fixed that the winter term should com- 
mence on the second Monday in ()ctiiticr and that it he taught 1)y S. E. Clay. 

At the annual school meeting for 1867. J. M. Hursli was re-elected 
assessor, and it was decided that they have live moiUhs' winter and four 
months' summer .school, and that the teacher he a man. .\lso that they raise 
two dollars per scholar for teachers' wages, and that tliey raise twenty cents 
per scholar for a dictionary. The animal school meeting for 1868 was 
simplv a repetition of the former year as to length of school and by whom 
to l>e taught, as well as the amount that should be raised per scholar for 
teachers" wages, ^\'allace W. Preston was elected director. On the 30th 
of November, 1868, the district made a contract with Christopher Columbus 
Foutch to teach the school, to commence on that day and contiime for four 
months at tiftv dollars ])er niduth. And the tiext May Charles Curtis was 
emploved to teach four months' summer school at fifty dollars ])er nKinth, 
beginning on the 19th day of .\pril. 1S69. 

The matters in the school district continued to go on about as they had 
for some time until the l)uilding became too small for the increased number 
of pupils. So at the annual school meeting of 1871 it was moved that I. 
A. Fancher. E. G. Chatfield and C. Bennett be appointed a committee to 
make examination, estimates and plans for an addition to the then present 
building. They accepted the task and reported at an adjourned meeting 
that an addition of about the same size as the original one could be built 
for seven hundred and fifty dollars. The money was ordered raised and 
the committee was requested to contract for and superintend the building of 
the addition, which they did. Matters then moved along for ;i time, eacJi 
vear the annual school meeting voting six hundred and fifty dollars for 
teachers' wages until the year 1875. when TT. TT. Graves suggested that the 
di.strict should begin to look forward lo the time when we should need more 
room and tliat now was the time to iimcure lots. A committee was appointed, 
but nothing was finally accomplished in that direction. 

In 1873 the school census was one hundred and sixteen and in 1876 
it had increased to two hundred and thirtv-three. At tiie aimual school 



148 ISABELLA COfXTY. MICHIGAN. 

meeting a proposition was made to organize the district into a graded school 
district and, after due deliberation, it was put to a vote and H. H. Graves 
and P. F. Dodds were appointed to count the vote, which resulted in thirty 
for and two against the proposition. 

This district being now a graded one, it was necessary that the meeting 
elect six trustees and this meeting, held on the 3d day of September, 1877, 
proceeded to elect M. Deveraux and John Maxwell trustees for one year. I. A. 
Fancher and P. E. Richmond for two years and S. W. Hopkins and J. A. 
Harris for three years. On the 4th of Septeml)er, the trustees met and organ- 
ized by electing S. W. Hopkins, moderator, i\I. Deveraux, director, and I. A. 
Fancher, assessor, each for one year. The board then proceeded to employ 
teachers for the several departments, as follows : A. L. Deuel, as principal, 
at eighty dollars per month for nine months ; Miss P. Delia Pierce as inter- 
mediate teacher at three hundred and seventy-five dollars for nine months, 
and ]\fary C. \'edder, to teach the first primary department. 

The board, on the 3d of October, 1877, decided to build an addition to 
the east end of the East school, to be thirty-eight feet long and to correspond 
to tlie old Iniilding. 

On account of the increase of students, it was found necessary to employ 
another teacher and Miss Frankie Relyea was hired to teach the B primary 
department at si.x dollars per week. 

As the cit\- increased in population, S(i also the school advanced in num- 
bers and importance. Additions were made from time to time to the old 
school building until we had three additions, called by Maj. J- ^^ • Long 
"warts." Matters ueut on in the school until the annual school meeting of 
1880, when \[v. Deveraux introduced the following resolution: "Whereas, 
our present school Iniilding has been inadequate to accommodate the number 
of pupils who were in attendance during the past school vear, and, whereas, 
the o\'ercrow(led condition of our school rooms impairs the usefulness of our 
.school and is injurious to the health of the children; therefore, resolved, by 
the legal voters of school district No. i of Lhiion township that said district 
do borrow ten thousand dollars for a term of ten years, at a rate of interest 
not to exceed six per cent per annum, for the purpose of erecting on the site 
recently purchased by the district a brick school building of suitable dimensions 
to accommodate the wants of our growing community," The resolution was 
seconded by I. A. Fancher and, after some discussion, on account of the late- 
ness of the hour the meeting was adjourned until the next evening. July 13, 
1880, at se\en-thirty P. M. to further consider and give opportunity to vote 
upon the resolution. 



ISABELLA tor N TV, MKIIUIAX. I 49 

At tlic acljounied hour the vote was taken and resulted in tlie adoininn 
of the resolution by thirty to four votes. 

The idea of a change in the school house site had been liefinu the people 
for some time and at a meeting of the district as early as March 28: 1878, 
a vote was taken as to the adxisahility of making a change, which resulted in 
fa\-or of the proposition forty-ti\e to t\venty-eight. hut no place was named. 
Afterward .ind on the heels of the hrst resolution, a \ote was taken to nunc 
tile site, which resulted in favor of the removal, seventy-nine tn thirteen, 
being a \ote of more than two-thirds in favor. ]t was declared carried. Then 
came the (piestion as to what place it sliould he removed, and the 4th of April, 
1878. was tixed for the time In settle tiiat question. .\ meeting was called 
and a \ote taken, which resulted in seventy-eiglit votes for Ijjock 26. l\inne\'s 
addition, the present site : twenty-eight for block 34, old plat, the 
block where the Sisters' home is now located: four votes for block 18. and 
two votes for block 3. iUock 26 was declared tn be the nne selected, at a cost 
of one thousand three hundred dollars, as follows: six hundred and iift\' dnj- 
lars in one year and the balance in two years. 

The Ijonds were negotiated witii l)a\id I'reston & Comp:iny, bankers, 
of Detroit, for the net sum of ten thousand and fifteen dollars. 

Plans and specifications were solicited and architects iiotihed and on the 
28th day of Septemljer, 1880, a meeting of the board was held for the pur- 
pose of examining and choosing plans. Hdiis meeting resulted in the choice 
of the plans presented by F. W. Hollister, of Saginaw. 

Bids were then called for, for the erection of the foundation wall. 
October 13, 1880, the b(»ard met and received four bids. After considering 
the bids, the contract was .-'.warded to J. M. Shaffer at one tlious;uid four 
hundred eighty-nine dollars and fifty cents, the contract to be completed on or 
before November 20, 1880. February i, 1881, the board met to consider 
and award the contract for the erection of the superstructure. The contract 
was awarded to Lance & Whitney at the sum of nine thousand eight hundred 
and ninety dollars. 

The building was completed in 1881, at a final cost of about thirteen 
thousand five hundred dollars. To meet this deficiency, the district, on the 
i4tb day of July, 1882, voted to bond the district for three thousand five hun- 
dred dollars to finish paving for the building. The vote as can\assed stood 
fourteen for to one against the bonding. These bonds were to draw six per 
cent, interest and were sold to David Preston & Company of Detroit for the 
sum of three thousand fi\e hundred twenty-six dollars and twenty-five cents 
net. Lance & Whitney lia\ ing claimed for some time that by a certain mis- 



150 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

take made in the calculations of their contract they had lost something over 
three hundred dollars and wanted the school district to reimburse them in 
that amount, the board finally, on the 28th of August, 1882, compromised and 
allowed them three hundred dollars and closed the matter. 

The building was occupied for school purposes at the opening of the 
term in September, 1882. and filled the wants of the district for a long time. 
It was an eight-room building, with a basement for installing a heating plant 
sufficient for the needs of the building. For the time it was considered rather 
a superior building for a new county, and we justly felt proud of it. 

July 22, 1879. the position as principal was tendered Henry C. Wilson 
for the coming year at a salary of six hundred dollars. 

July 5. 1880. the place of principal was given to Prof. E. A. Wilson at 
seven hundred dollars for the school year, with Blanche Cudworth. Xellie 
Morrison and Eva Kishler as teachers. May 20, 1882, the old school buildings 
and site were sold, the buildings to Thomas Pickard for four hundred dollars 
and the site to Doctor King for six hundred dollars. In !May, 1882. M. 
Deverau.x was made a committee of one to look up a principal for the coming 
year, and he secured the services of Prof. H. K. Warren, who continued to 
hold the place of principal for the space of one year. He was then engaged 
for another vear. but. receiving a better offer in Missouri, he was released and 
Prof. L. A. McLouth was engaged. 

Time rolled along as usual, the \illage and the school census both grow- 
ing until, at the annual school meeting held Jul}' 11, 1887. an efifort was made 
to induce the district to provide more school room. A report was made by 
Mr. Deveraux for the school board to the efifect that there were one hundred 
and eighty-four children on the primaiy list and that the room for their ac- 
commodation was inadequate, but as it was reported that the Catholic people 
expected to build a school house for their accommodation the proposition was 
abandoned for the time and a resort to renting rooms for school purposes was 
continued. This continued until July 22, 1889, when a proposition was made 
to bond the district for five thousand dollars for the purpose of purchasing 
two school house sites, one in the first and one in the second ward. This 
proposition was placed before the district and voted upon by the electors July 
24th and carried Ijy a vote of thirty-one for to five against. 

Afterward sites were selected, une on block 7, lots 6 and 7, Smith's ail- 
dition, in the first ward, and one on the corner of the southwest quarter of 
the first block north of Kinney's residence in the third ward. The first ward 
site was afterward changed to lots i and 2 of the same block. 

On August 24. 1889. tiie school board met and awarded the contracts for 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. I5I 

tlie Imilding of tlie two ward buiUlings. I'he one in the first ward was awarded 
to William H. Carpenter for the smn of two thousand eight hundred dollars 
and the one in tlie third ward to Robert Ballard for the sum of two thousand 
eight luuidred dollars. These were to he each four-room buildings and two 
stories high, with a basement under the whole building of sufficient height to 
admit of the putting in of a heating plant or plants of sufficient capacity to 
heat the building. 

This gave us sufficient school rt)om for some lime, the Catholic peo|)le 
having built a schoolhouse on their church grounds. Tiie time came, however, 
when, the west side being isolated somewhat on account of being on the west 
side of the Chippewa river and across the Ann Arl)or railroad track, it was 
thought best to build a school building on that side of the river. A couple of 
lots were purciiased of S. W. Hopkins to-wit : Lots i and 2. block lo. Hopkins 
& Lyons" addition to the city of Mt. Pleasant, and a school building was erect- 
ed of sufficient capacity to accommodate about forty pupils. These buildings, 
with the training school of the Normal, have kept us pretty well equipped for 
school room all along up to 1906 or '07. when the school board began to feel 
the necessity of more room. Tlie\- had introtluced into the high school a 
course of business education, consisting of stenography, typewriting and com- 
mercial arithmetic, and had begun to introduce a course of manual training, 
and were contemplating a course of domestic science, with more apparatus for 
the science department, which to the board meant a great deal uKjre room. 
They therefore began to save where they could and were able to lay by a 
consitlerable sum without increasing to a great extent the burden of school 
taxation until, in 1908, a proposition was made by the school board that the 
district bond itself for the sum of ten thousand dollars, to be addetl to what 
had been accumulated and with said funds jjroceed to Iniild an addition to the 
high school building and equip it so that domestic science and maiuial training 
could i)e taught and so that our commercial department could also have better 
facilities and I)e in the high school building. The proposition was well re- 
ceived bv the people. The proposition to bond being submitted to the people, 
they voted the amount of ten thousand dollars without any hesitancy. The 
bonds were negotiated through Detroit parties. Fisher Brothers, of Pontiac. 
Michigan, were awarded a contract for plans and specifications; John T. Hidy 
was awarded the contract for the construction of the building, except the heat- 
ing and plumbing, the heating being let to the- Leitolt Iron Works, of Grand 
liapids, and the plumbing to J. B. Clark, of Mt. Pleasant. The whole cost 
of the building complete was about twenty-two thousand dollars. The build- 
ing is complete in its arrangement and ought to supply all needful wants 
of the district for a long time. 



152 ISABELLA COVNiY, MICHIGAN. 

In carrying out our intention of a full report of tlie scliouls we believe 
that we should make suitable mention of what the ward and training schools 
are doing in the way of laying the foundation to the higher education in the 
high school and the normal. All of the lower grades are taught in these 
grade schools as well as in the training school. 

Prof. John Kelley has the superintendence of the training scIiodI and, 
with the aid of the faculty of the school, is doing a good work. The faculty 
is as follows : Critic teacher in the first grade, Frances Burt ; in the second 
grade, Emma Robertson, B. S. ; third grade, Louis Wilson: fnurth grade, 
Carrie A. Proctor; iiftli grade, Myrta \\'ilson : sixth grade. Emma L. Hol- 
brook, A. B., B. Ph.; seventh grade, Mrs. \l. I. Termant : eighth grade. Lulu 
B. Chase. 

In the Fancher school Ida Crego is principal and teacher in the sexenth 
grade; Loretta McDonald, sixth grade; Mrs. Francis Jamison, fifth grade. 
The eighth grade has been moved to the high school building, with Fred 
Everest as teacher. In the Kinney school, Miss Nellie Ballaster is the prin- 
cipal and teacher in the first grade, with Emma Pybus in the second grade, 
Agnes Nelson in the third grade and Elizabeth Sullivan in the fourth grade. 
In the West Side school there is Miss Mary McGuire as teacher, witli first, 
second, third and fourth grade classes. 

These are all supervised by the superintendent of the schools of the city. 
With this outfit du]_\' arranged and with the proper material in the hands 
of the teachers, it may safely be taken for granted that good work will be 
done — perhaps not all that the ad\-anced thinkers of the times would wish, 
but approximately so. It must be taken into account. that while some are 
anxious that we should go faster, others are feeling that the world is too fast 
now and that it would be better that we go slowly and feel our way. We 
think the best is none too good and that the trend of the times is to move for- 
ward just as fast as we can feel that our ground is firm and stable. 

THE SHEPHERD SCHOOL. 

The school at Shepherd is one that deserves a special notice, not because 
it is so much [letter than the others, but more on account of its size and 
prominence in the county. Its evolution has been something like the one at 
Mt. Pleasant. It started in a very humble way and has had a gentle and 
steady growth according to the growth of the village. It was incubated as a 
log school house and remained in that line for a number of years and then 
when Salt River \-illage obtained some prominence, the log structure was dis- 



ISABELLA COINTV, M Kl 1 KIAX. 15,^ 

posed of and a frame l)uildiiig erected in the villas;e, llial leniained iinlil jnst 
recentlx . When it had ceased to be of sufficient capacity for the needs of the 
district, the good peoi)le, who are always alert as to the hest interests of the 
rising generation, took it upon thenisehes to erect a line brick structure of 
sulticient size to meet the needs of the district for many years to come. They 
purchased a site in a central and convenient ])lace in the village and erected a 
tine structure costing complete something like fifteen thousand dollars. 

The school has a superintendent and a ])receptrcss. with Lou H. Melson 
teaching the seventh and eighth grades. (Irace Struble in the iifth and sixth 
grades. Edna Brown teaching third and fourth grades and Vera Boyer in the 
first and second grades. The superintendent is Cie(5rge I. Leave.ugood and 
the preceptress is .\lta Prescott. Mrs. .Mien Orser has charge of the kinder- 
garten and Ivah Maher teaches music and drawing. 

The school has in all ten grades and the superintendent and the precep- 
tress take care of the two upper grades, so it will be seen that they are nearly 
up to high school standard : this will be reached in a short time, when the 
school will be full Hedged. 

If the unit svstem shall prevail in this county, there will be no reason \\h\' 
there shall not be established in Shepherd a full fledged high school and then 
it can be equipped with all of the modern appliances for more extendetl work 
and with better .success. There is nothing like a school nxjm equipped with 
all of the appliances that are necessary for the best results. 

MT. PLKASANT HIGH SCHOOL. 

The high school of the city of Ml. Pleasant is rated among the foremost 
in the state. It is on the accredited list of the University of Michigan and 
also of the Xorth Central Association of Secondary Schools. This means 
that our graduates are admitted without examination ( prt)vided they have 
pursue<l the course recpiired for entrance to the chosen department) to any 
college or university in Michigan and the North Central states. The faculty 
of ten teachers is composed of men and women with college (jr university 
training and of proved experience. Its graduates are making good in the 
various activities of life, and have i)roved them.sclves an lionnr ti< their school 
and city. 

.\ librarv of one thousand live hundred vnlumes and a reading moiu. 
where a goodly number of the best and latest magazines may always he ob- 
tained, offer excellent facilities for research or reference work. The physical, 
biological, and chemical laboratories are fitted up with all the latest modern 



154 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

appliances and are equipped with the best modem apparatus that science de- 
mands. The manual training and domestic science departments are thorough- 
ly up to date, with complete modern equipment, and are proving of great inter- 
est and l^enefit to the school. The gymnasium, equipped for basket ball and 
all indoor gymnastic athletics, furnishes a fine place for the boys and girls 
to develop good sound bodies. All these conveniences and advantages, to- 
gether with the beautiful new building and the campus, with its shaded lawns, 
and the tennis courts, and the excellent school spirit existing in the citv. make 
a monument that any community maj- well be proud of. 

The high school aims to meet and satisfy the needs and demands of its 
students and patrons, and tri that end offers the following courses : Literarv 
(admitting to University of Michigan) : engineering (admitting to University 
of Michigan); commercial; manual training; domestic science. Several of 
these courses are discussed to greater length in the articles which follow. 

COURSE OF STUDY. 

The general course of study as pursued in the Mt. Pleasant high school 
is as follows : 

Ninth Grade or Freshman Year — First semester, required, English, 
algebra ; elective, ancient history. Latin, bookkeeping, zoology, mechanical 
drawing and manual training. Second semester, required. English, algebra : 
elective, ancient history, Latm. bookkeeping, botanw mechanical drawing and 
manual training. 

Tenth Grade or Sophomore Year — First semester, required, English. 
algebra ; elective, modern history. Latin, phvsical geographv, manual training, 
bookkeeping, commercial arithmetic, typewriting, mechanical drawing. Sec- 
ond semester, required, English, geometry; elective, modern history, Latin, 
physical geography, manual training, bookkeeping, commercial arithmetic, 
typewriting, mechanical drawing. 

Eleventh Grade or Junior Year — First semester, required, English, geom- 
etry, physics ; elective, English history, Latin, German, sewing, typewriting, 
stenography. Second semester, required, English, geometry, physics; elective, 
English history, Latin, German, sewing, typewriting, stenography. 

Twelfth Grade or Senior Year — First semester, required, English; elec- 
ti\'e, Amerian history and civics, Latin, German, chemistry, stenographv, 
cooking, sewing. Second semester, required, English; electi\-e, .American 
history and civics, Latin. German, chemistry, business practice, trigonometery. 
cooking, sewing. 



ISABELLA COL'XTV, MICHIGAN. I55 

THE COMMKRCIAI. DF.PARTMEXT. 

The commercial department of the high school is one of its most im- 
portant assets. The aim of the department is to prepare students for active 
work in the commercial world, and towards this end offers courses in book- 
keeping, typewriting and stenography. These subjects are pursued through 
a period of two years each, and are so correlated w itii the work ni the academic 
department as to constitute a regular commercial course, extending over the 
usual four years of the high school course. Any student completing this 
suggested course is granted a high school commercial diploma. The depart- 
ment is equipped with .seven L. C. Smith & Brothers typewriters, all of the 
latest manufacture, and every student is given at least two hours daily prac- 
tice during the two years required tor tlus subject. Xo difficulty has been 
experienced in securing positions for capable and worthy graduates from this 
department. In fact the positions seek them rather than the reverse, and ii; 
several instances students have stepped into positions before completing the 
cour.se. This policy is not encouraged, hDwe\er — in fact, is discouraged. 
Studt nts taking this commercial work are advised to complete the regular 
course, thus laying a broader foundation for their life work and securing a 
diploma to show for their preparation. 

M.VNLAI. rKALNIXC, .VXD DOMESTIC SCIEXCE. 

In 1907 the board of education, realizing that the ])ublic schools should as 
tar as possible meet and solve the ever increasing needs and demands of a 
growmg community, resohed upon the introduction of a department of man- 
ual training into the high school. .V room was accordingly titted up in the 
high school building and equipped with lienches and a ctnuplete outfit for 
work, mechanical drawing and cabinet making. So much interest and en- 
thusiasm was manifested among the students and parents and so successful 
was the department in the character of the work turned out that in 1909 the 
course was introduced into the lower grades also, and today the work runs 
through the first ten grades of the public schools. To fully realize the great 
educational and practical value of the department, it is only necessary to look 
in on the boys as they are at work in the school shop, to see their earnestness 
and enthusiasm, to note the business-like atmosphere, and to inspect their 
work. Manual training is educating them to a true conception of the ilignity 
and honor of labor and the lalx)rer. 

In keeping with the spirit of the times, the board, in 1909. introduced into 



156 ISABELLA COrXTY, MICHIGAN. 

the grades and liigh school a department of domestic science, wliich should do 
for the girls what manual training was doing for the boys. A room was 
fitted up for this purpose in the new high school huikling with a complete 
modern equipment for cooking and sewing. This equipment consists of one 
large Kalamazoo gas range, one large kitchen cabinet, one large cooking 
table fitted up with twelve individual gas plates, lockers, and all necessary 
culinarv utensils, one large sewing cabinet, one large sewing table, and three 
sewing machines. A class of twelve in cooking can be accommodated at 
one time. In the sewing classes the number might run as high as twenty or 
twenty-five. The results have been as gratifying as those from the manual 
training department. The girls ha\-e been made t(_) realize that no school sub- 
ject can rate higher than sewing and cooking, that no other subject can ap- 
])roach these studies in interest and power. They have discovered the great 
truth of the following paragraph taken from Ruskin's "Ethics of the Dust :" 
"To be a good cook means a knowledge of all fruits and herbs, of balms and 
spices, of all that is healing and sweet in grove and field, savory in meats. 
It means willingness, carefulness, inventiveness and readiness of appliance. 
It means much tasting and no wasting. It means the skill of our great- 
grandmothers and the science of modern chemists. It means French taste. 
English thoroughness and Arabian hospitality. It means, in short, that they 
must always be ladies (literally loaf givers), and see to it that we all have 
something nice to eat." 

Finally, manual training and domestic science are instilling into the minds 
of the boys and girls a better understanding of and a greater and nobler love 
and respect for the industrial side of life, are giving them a keener perception 
of real art. are placing them in closer harmony with every-day life, and are 
giving them a hand and an e^-e training which will better fit them for life's 
duties. 

MECHANICAL DRAWING. 

The aim of this course is to develop the reasoning powers, strengthen 
in\'entive and constructive ability, instil in the pupils a love for systematic. 
precise and neat work, and give them the ability to draft an exact and accurate 
representation of any article of furniture they intend to construct in their 
manual training work. The course ofifered in the high school co\"ers a period 
of two years. 

Ninth Grade — Practice with drawing instruments : lettering. ]n'inci[)ally 
freehand right line lettering ; geometric constructions : working drawings. 

Tenth Grade — Orthographic projections: (a) simple projections, (b) 
ad\anced projections ; practical problems ; isometric and cabinet projections. 



ISABKI.I.A COLXTY. MICIIIC.AX. 15/ 



MANCAI, TRAIXIXC. 



This course covers a ])eriod of two years and deals witli the principal 
joints used in woodwork. The\- are applied in the construction of pieces of 
furniture selected by the pu])il with the a[)proval of the teacher. The work at 
the bench is supplemented by lectures and discussions on the uses of various 
joints, on to<ils and on materials used in the work. 

Xinth (irade — Joints Involved: Dowel joint, glue jcjint. ninrtisc and 
tenon joint, mitre joint, halving, gaining. Operations: Making a working 
drawing to a fi.xed scale of the article nf furniture to be constructed: funda- 
mental processes, as planing, sawing, etc.: laying out dowel joint: laying out 
mortise and tenon joint; jointing and gluing: housing: mitering; assembling; 
scraping; clamping; finishing. Projects; Stand, plate rack, foot stool, screen, 
shelf, drawing board, moulding board, tabouret, blacking stand, umbrella 
rack, book shelf, book rack, picture frame. Demonstration; Demonstration 
of the methods of lading out and constructing the joints; gluing and the use 
of clamps; finishing; plane adjustment: steps in planing; shop ethics; bits and 
boring; sharpening saws and their action; care of the tools. Outside Study: 
The uses, characteristics, and growth of oak. ash. cy])ress. basswood. and 
pine : timlier and its conversion into lumber. 

Tenth (irade — Joints ln\dlved: Dovetail joint: panel joint: ])in joint: 
other modilications of the mortise and tenon joint. Oi)erations : \\'orking 
drawing ; general cabinet construction. Projects : Book racks, magazine 
rack, liljrary table, round table, sewing table, piano bench, book case, desk, 
morris chair, telephone stand, settee, divan, work bench, tool chest, clock, lire- 
less cooker. Demonstrations : Demonstration of the different problems met 
with in cabinet work; shop methods. Outside Study; Cilue : manufacture of 
tools; the problem of forestry; uses, characteristics and growth of cherry, 
mahogany, walnut, ebony, and rare cal)inet woods: commercial methods: man- 
ual training courses. 

nOMESTtC .SCIEXCE GENERAL COOKERV. 

Principles of cookery and the object in cooking. 
Study of air, water and food, the three essentials to life. 
Thorough study of heat, effects of heat, transference of heat, air and 
its gases. 

Kitchen equipment. 

Weighing and measiuing ingredients. 

Chemical — animal and \egetable. 



IsS ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



CLASSIFICATION FIRST TERM. 



Study of Carbohydrates — Cereals, flour mixtures, sugars, vegetables. 

Cereals — Their classification, composition and preparation for market : 
the properties of starch and effect of high and low temperature; digestion of 
cereals and their use in the body: a discussion of nutritive value in proportion 
to cost ; combination of cereals -with other foods ; preparation of cereal dishes. 

Flour Mixtures — Study of flour mixtures follows cereals. It includes 
the kinds and manufacture of flour, sources, manufacture and uses of leavens, 
general classification of flour mixtures into batters and doughs; the methods 
of cooking with regard to the digestibility and nutritive value; preparation of 
flour mixtures. 

Sugars — Relation of sugars to starch, their classification and chemical 
value; source, manufacture and dietetic value; the efi^ect of various degrees 
of heat on sugar; fermentation; cost of sugar in relation to its food value; 
preparation of sugar dishes. 

Vegetables — Classification, season, cost, care, preparation, methods of 
and reason for cooking; digestibility, nutritive value and combination with 
other foods; all is accompanied 1iy practical work. 

SECOND TERM. 

Beverages, proteins, fats and oils, mineral matter. 

Beverages — Study of tea, coffee, cocoa and chocolate ; studied as to 
source, kinds, preparation for market, physiological effects, the proper methods 
of preparation and the cost; the different beverag-es are prepared in class. 

Proteins (contained in all animal food) — Study of meats, poultr\', fish, 
eggs, milk and cheese ; in meats, the study of albumen, gelatinoids and ex- 
tracts are had. 

Meats — The kinds, cuts and characteristics of good meat, methods of 
preparation and nutritive value according to cut; digestibility; combination of 
meat with other foods; preparation of meat dishes and serving. 

Fish — Classification ; composition, structure and selection according to 
season ; digestibility and nutritive value ; preparation. 

Poultry — Classification, as domestic fowl and game; selection of and 
nutritive value; preparation and serving. 

Eggs — Structure and composition of eggs ; tests for freshness and preser- 
vation ; digestibility and nutritive value ; cost of eggs as a protein food ; 
preparation of egg dishes. 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 1 59 

Milk — Composition, nutritive \<iluc and difi^estibility of milk; preserva- 
tions and adulterations: preparation of milk dishes; study of milk jiroducts. 
cream, butter and cheese; cost and nutritive value of the above. 

Cheese — \'arieties and manufacture; digestibility and nutritive value: 
preparation of cheese dishes. 

Fats and Oils — Fats and oils are classified as animal and vegetable. A 
study is made of source, composition, digestibility and preservation. Methods 
of cooking in fat are practiced. 

Mineral Matter — .Study of different .sources of mineral matter and the 
uses of it in the lx)dy. 

Fruit and Preservation — Study of different fruits; nutritive value, sea- 
son, cost, digestibility; ])reserving. canning, jelly and jam making; |)ickling. 

During the year one day a week has been given for the special study of 
marketing, serving, house plans and liousehold economics. 

Marketing — Study of food materials with regards to season, cost, selec- 
tion and care. Students are to find out the prices for themselves. When 
meals are prepared and served students are given practice in marketing. 

Sening — Includes all that pertains to the serv ing of meals, duties of 
hostess, setting of table, and manners of serving dift'erent meals. 

House Plans (especially the kitchen) — To give the girls a better idea of 
economy of time, energ)-. and strength in daily care of tlie house. 

Household Economics — .Study of sanitation ; cleansing agents and their 
use especially in the kitchen; dish washing; lighting, ventilation and heating; 
plumbing and drainage. 

SEWING. 

H sewing has not been had in tlie grades some elementary sewing must 
be given. 

T. Lessons on materials — Needles; various kinds and sizes to corre- 
spond with thread; cost of needles. Thimbles; use of thimbles. Scissors and 
shears; various styles and sizes: u.se, co.st and difference between. Cloth: the 
threads of cluth. warp and woof: what is the selvage. tiic raw edge; the true 
bias ; its use ; to distinguish the different kinds of cloth, the widths, cost and 
durability. 

2. Les.sons on the different stitches, plain and ornamental ; the ajjply- 
ing of the different stitches: hems: .seams; gathering and putting into bands; 
plackets and button holes. 

3. Lessons on darns and patch work ; darning on cotton or wool ; bias, 
overcast and underset patches. 



^''^° ISABELLA COUNTY, MICIIIGAX. 

The course of sewing in the Iiigh school takes in the making ,,f all the 
different underwear, corset cover, drawers, night dress and x\-hite skirt, the 
makmg of a tailored shirt waist and a simple dress. 

Under each garment comes as follows: Design of garments Discus- 
sion of materials, amount to be used and cost. Taking of measurements 
Draft ot ,5atterns. Cutting of garments. Correct wav of making the o-a,- 
ments. " '' 

At the end of the year and at Christmas, some design work is given and 
applied to different articles such as pillow tops, table runners, curtains ba-s 
center pieces, etc.. either in embroidery or stencil work. 

After plain sewing has been had. if the girls xxish to continue their work 
an advanced class is given which includes the making of f^ner underwear a 
finer dress, embroidery, stencil work, designing, etc. 

PROPOSED AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMEXT. 

It is the intention of the board of education to establish in the near future 
a department ot agriculture in the high school. People no longer look upon 
agriculture as an occupation ^^•hich anyone mav undertake, but recognize it as 
a decidedly scientific business enterprise. It requires as much brain; to run a 
fai-m successfully as it does to run a large department store or manufacturing, 
establishment or any other commercial enterprise. The aim of this aoricul'^ 
tural course will be to give those boys who cannot go to a higher^nsti- 
tution of learning and who expect to make farming their business, as broad 
and as scientihc a knowledge of this great industry as is possible in a high 
school The board believes it ^yill be one of the most important and most 
prohtable courses offered in the high school. 

The work will cover a period of four years and will be so correlated with 
the other work of the high school that any student completing the sug<.ested 
course will be granted a high school agricultural diploma. While the work 
bas not yet been fully outlined, it will undoulitedly cover the following points 

Hrst \eai— First semester, l^otany; second semester, agricultural botany 

becond \ ear-First semester, crops: second semester, horticulture an'd 
entomologv. 

soils'^'""' ^''"'~^''''' ^^"'^-^ter. live stock and dairying: second semester. 

Fourth Year- First semester, live stock impixn-ement : second semester 
tarm management, farm mechanics, poultry. 



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ISABELLA COUXTV, MICHIGAN. 



l6l 



GRADUATES OF HIGH SCHOOL. 



CLASS OF 1880. 



CL.\SS OF 1886. 



E. A. Wilson. Principal. 
Flora A. Bouton. 
Kittie G. Fessenden-Wilsim. 
Harmine H. Dodds (deed). 
Anna E. Myers (dec'd). 

CLASS OF 1881. 

E. i\. Wilson, Principal. 
Byron B. Lower. 
Will Taylor. 
Worth Preston. 



J. \\ . Harris. Superintendent. 
.\. Dwight Kennedy. 
May Loveland Sherman. 
John j. Richniiind. 

CLASS OF 1887. 

G. .\. Sharton, Superintendent. 
Edna .M. Bouton-Meneng;. 
Sarah Gorham-Balnier. 
Stratton D. Brooks ( superintendent 
Boston schools). 



CLASS OF 1882. 



CLASS OF 1888. 



E. A. Wilson. Superintendent. 
Xo graduates. 

CLASS OF 1883. 

H. K. Warren. Superintendent. 
No graduates. 

CLASS OF 1884. 

L A. McLouth. Principal. 
Helen Sterling Bowen (dec'd). 
Ellen Ma.wvell (dec'd). 
Anna M. Moss. 
May Lower (dec'd). 

CLASS OF 1885. 

J. W. Harris, Superintendent. 
.\'o list of graduates. 
(II) 



J. T,. Skinner, Principal. 

Kittie Duel-Granville (Saginaw). 

Carrie Coons-Allenbaugh. 

Bessie R. W'ightinan (drawing 
teacher in Xornial) . 

.Michael Leahy (Medical Lake, 
Wash). 

Louise Garrett (stenographer. De- 
troit. Mich.). 

.■\nna B. Preston-Mitchell (Battle 
Creek, Mich.). 

Fred Bellinger. 

CLASS OF 1889. 

Orion Burdick (real estate. Shep- 
herd. Mich.). 
Lizzie Looniis. 

CL.\ss OF i8go. 

Xora liellard ( dec'd ). 



1 62 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 



Gertie Robinson. 
Princie Peak-Carnahan. 
Maggie Richmond. 

CLASS OF 1 89 1. 

H. G. Blodgett, Superintendent. 
Mabel I. Bi,shop, Principal. 
Delia Bui-dick (dec'd). 
Edna Saunders. 
Mamie Kinney. 

Emma Saxton (teaching in De- 
troit). 

CLASS OF 1892. 

H. G. Blodgett, Superintendent. 

W. M. Siierrick, Principal. 

Joe McCue (physician in Hudson, 
Mich.). 

James Kennedy. 

Frank Russel ( general entertainer, 
Ashland, Ohio). 

Clara Hunter-Butcher (Vassar. 
Mich.). 

Ethel Conlogue ( milliner, Cleve- 
land, Ohio). • 

Herbert Rose (attorney, Chicago). 

Christina Sterling- Vowels. 

CLASS OF 1893. 

James Butcher (lumber, Detroit). 

Lester Kinney (dec'd). 

Belle Miller. 

Claude Tremper (dec'd). 

Mason Bamborough ( attorney, 

Chicago). 
Beulah Kimliall (dec'd). 



Etta Smith. 

Addie Thayer-Dayton-Coons ( Aber- 
deen, Wash.). 

CLASS OF 1894. 

Patrick H. Kelly, Superintendent. 
Mabel I. Bishop, Princi])al. 
Pauline Foster (Spokane, Wash.). 
Bernard Richmond ( physician. 

Terre Haute, Ind.). 
John McGann (dentist. bmia, 

Mich.). 
Fred Vowels ( rural carrier. Mt. 

Pleasant ) . 

CLASS OF 1895. 

Patrick H. Kelly. Superintendent. 

Mabel I. Bishop, Principal. 

Allen Dusenberry ( real estate. New 

Orleans, La.). 
Elizalieth Dusenberry-Loomis (Bat- 
tle Creek, Mich.). 
Bruce Short (attorney, Seattle, 

Wash.). 
Janet Doughty-Hornung ( Michigan 

City, Ind.). 
:Mabel Vowels (Detroit, ]\[ich.). 
Raymond Collins ( postoffice clerk, 

Mt. Pleasant). 
Jesse Parker (physician. Owosso, 

Mich.). 
John Sours (druggist, 01i\'et, 

Mich.). 
Thomas Bamborough (dentist). 

CLASS OF 1896. 

Patrick H. Kelly, Superintendent. 
Mabel I. Bishop, Principal. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, M K 11 IGAX. 



'63 



Ward Ahlidt 1'utchcr ( lunilicr. De- 
troit). 
Mary Adeline Cassady-ButcIit-r. 
Grace Ruth Tliaver. 
^[aude Louise Bergy. 
Pearle Mae Carnahan (bookkeeper. 

Mt. Pleasant). 
Rol)eit James McCann (dentist). 
.Alice Mae Brown. 
Grace Beth Dayton (^ teacher. Del 

Rio, Tex.). 
Alice Leroy Nelson-I-'itch (Socorro. 

W. Va.). 
Robert Joseph Kane. 
Howard Monroe James. 
Raymond Alberta Horning (denti'^t. 

Mu.^kegon. Mich.). 
Josephine .Almira Jameson-Lahloiul 

(teacher). 
Helen Cornell Jeffords-Kinch ( I'on- 

tiac, Mich.). 
Mary Mabel Slater. 
Anna B. Preston. 
Hannah M. Shorts. 
Ella Kelly. 
-Nddie Dayton. 
Eva Hawley. 
Amrilla Norton. 
Sophia Bunn. 
Laura Kinne\'. 
Clara Saunders. 
Effie Bozer. 
Emma Sa.xton. 
Lucy Whitlock. 
Carrie Simpson. 
Gertrude Robinson. 
Mary McCue. 
Eva Mc.Mlister. 
Charles E. Gamblin"-. 



CLASS OF 1897. 

Patrick H. Kelly. Superintendent. 

H. .\. Graham, Principal. 

Jessie .\lniira Manners (teacher, 

Detroit). 
Clare Dean-X'eamier. 
John Eranklin Gardiner (dec'd). 
Iv.i JuJany Ellis (dec'd). 
l-aniiie Elizabeth Partridge (Ithaca) 
iManklin Eraser Potter (professor, 

Ann .Arbor). 
Anii,-i Ethel Slater. 
Lillian .May X'owcis (dec'd). 
Edith May Gulick-Terrel. 

CLASS OK 1898. 

Patrick H. Kelly. Superintendent. 

C. E. Tambling. Principal. 

Corylin Burr. 

Xellie Bennett-Wood (Los Angeles, 
Calif.). 

Minnie Coffey. 

Erank Dusenberry (attorney. Mt. 
Plea.sant). 

Luella Dimon. 

Elorence Kennedy. 

.\nna Murtha-Rogers ( San Eran- 
cisco. Calif.). 

Ralph Case. 

Effie Campbell. 

Emma Clark (East LakeL 

Ralph Renwick. 

l-'aith Robinson. 

Bessie Slater (Porto Rico). 

Perry Shorts (insurance. Saginaw. 
Mich.). 

Clyde Sheline ( ilenii-i. Mt. Pleas- 
ant). 



i64 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



Maude Wightman (teacher). 

Tilden Whitney. 

Blanche Garvin. 

Ross McDonald. 

Floyd Oliver (banker. Farwell. 

Mich.). 
Daisy Wells. 
Bernice Cook-Wells (Clare). 

CL.\ss OF 1899. 

W. V. Sage. Superintendent. 

\\'ill Anderson (banker. Shepherd. 
Mich.). 

Roy Barnuni (hypnotist). 

Herbert Bailey (painter. Mt. Pleas- 
ant). 

Ross Dusenbury (banker). 

Mabel Garrison. 

Grace Hall. 

Virgiline Doughty-Collins. 

Grace Jameson- Ackerman (teacher, 
Lansing). 

Harry Miller (Editor Courier). 

Dennis Alaloney. 

Jennie McDonald. 

Will McDonald. 

Dora Ruegesegger. 

Allan Sheldon (engineer. Washing- 
ton). 

Louvene Smith. 

George W. Taylor. 

Elton Young. 

Evarard Wilson. 

Anna Kerns. 

CL.^ss OF 1900. 
W. V. Sage. Superintendent. 



Francis Richmond (teacher, De- 
troit). 

Belle Richmond (teacher. Detroit). 

Gertrude Ayling. 

Fanny Brown. 

Hattie Clark. 

Richard Curtis (Sand Point. Idaho). 

Mabel Gray (teacher, Seattle). 

Walter Hamilton. 

Bessie Houghton. 

Florence Phiel. 

Ethel Redfield. 

Glen Riley (real estate. Mt. Pleas- 
ant). 

^^'alter Snider (real estate, ex- 
mayor, Mt. Pleasant). 

Clarence Meade. 

CLASS OF 1901. 

W. V. Sage, Superintendent. 

Nella Marian Barnum (dec'd). 

J. Frank Collins. 

Fabian B. Dodds (attorney, Spo- 
kane, Wash.). 

Charles W. Gibbs. 

Nellie E. Maurer-Rosencranz. 

Edith A. Morrison-Gibbs. 

Xellie G. Pi.xley. 

Hazel D. .Saylor. 

Charles R. W. Southwick (dentist, 
Mt. Pleasant). 

Archie R. Gilpin (teacher, Cheboy- 
gan). 

Nellie Kennedy. 

CLASS OF 1902. 

A\', \'. Sage. Superintendent. 
M. M. Sherrick, Principal. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



i6; 



Olive Berg)'-Wager (Beaverton, 

:\Iich.). 

Will Cox (dec'd). 

Mabel Cox-Allen (Florida). 

Dalph Clark (teacher). 

Blanche Doughty (teacher, (irand 
Rapids). 

Roljert Hidey (engineer. Detroit). 

Harry Hudson (postofficc clerk. 
Mt. Pleasant). 

Ethel Johnson (teacher, Lansing). 

Johanna Leaton-Caldwell (Berke- 
ley, Calif.). 

Sadie Murtha-CIark (San Fran- 
cisco, Calif.). 

Lee Newton (teacher). 

Mary Royal (Des Moines. Iowa). 

Lester Royal (Des Moines, Iowa). 

Luhi Stanton-Mosher. 

Bianciie \\'right-\\'alker. 

Ciinrles Dunlap. 

Bessie Elmore. 

Harry ^laurer (teacher. Lansing). 

Ruby Russell fmusic teacher, San 
Diego, Calif.). 

Harry Smith (cartoonist, Chicago). 

Cora Shafer (teacher). 

Fred Young (implements, Sas- 
katchewan ) . 

De Be Voise Roval (Des Moines, 
la.). 

Bertha Lee (teacher). 

Michael Brondstetter (teacher). 

Harold Kellogg (vocalist, Xew 
York City). 

CLASS OF 1903. 

\V. \'. Sage, Superintendent. 



Ralph Wayne Dusenbury (second 
lieutenant U. S. Army). 

Samuel H. Hess (teacher). 

Mildred Hess (teacher). 

Ralph Harris (bakery. Mt. Pleas- 
ant ) . 

Tim T'. Janiisun (professor, Clifton, 
Ariz.). 

Hazel Livingston (teaching). 

Sophie Murtha-Barnard. 

Valentine B. Sampson-Barnum. 

W. Warren Shorts (Seattle, Wash). 

Earl \\'hitcomb. 

Zar T. Crittinden (postofifice clerk, 
Butte. Mont.). 

Mae Bnffum (teacher). 

Mattie Maude Hart (teacher). 

Ida M. Cassady-Garvey (Detroit). 

Eolah Slater (teacher). 

Carrie L. \^owles. 

.\nna Ratliff. 

Kittie Moore. 

Howard D. Jeffords. 

Bertha Cooper-Kenney. 

rirant W. Busii (teacher). 

F.arl F. Riley (civil engineer with 
Grand Western R. R.). 

CLASS OF 1904. 

W. \'. Sage. Superintendent. 
Edgar H. \\'hite. Principal. 
Louise Bennett (teacher, Pasadena, 

Calif.). 
Xellie Coffin (teacher). 
\'ivien Dodds-Brown. 
Hazel Horning (teacher, Detroit). 
James K. Jamison (teacher). 
Douglas Nelson (attorney, Seattle, 

Wash.). 



1 66 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



Christine Thiers (music teacher, 
Phoenix, Ariz.). 

Pearle Myers-Youngs (Iron Ri\-er, 
Mich.). 

Frank Young (rancher, Saskatche- 
wan). 

Myrtle Allen-Harris. 

Allie Marsh (teacher. Ironwood. 
Mich.). 

Chester Riches (banker. Mt. Pleas- 
ant). 

Faye Hankins (teacher). 

Hugh Barnard (bookkeeper and 
buyer, Chicago). 

Ethel Anderson-Keate. 

Judd P)rubaker. 

William Craig. 

Howard Gilpin (teacher. Rogers 
City, Mich.). 

Lewis String (dec'd). 

Howard Schnell. 

Dennis TifYany (teacher). 

Floyd Taylor (farmer). 

Charles Keenan (insurance. Iron 
River. Mich.). 

CLASS OF 1905. 

W. V. Sage, Superintendent. 
Edgar H. White, Principal. 
Francis Riches (teacher). 
Gladys Struble-Leeman (Petoskey). 
Vera Berg. 

Lura .Snider (teacher). 
Gertrude May Lee (teacher). 
Earl Miller (editor. Clifton. Ariz.). 
Alta Prescott. 
Frances Crooks- Jamison. 
Grace McDonald-^^'ismer (Mid- 
land, Mich.). 



Myron Demoray (teacher). 

Gerden McBain. 

Florence Crittenden (teacher). 

Ralph Hidey (in LTniversity of 
Michigan). 

Walter Russell ( real estate, Mt. 
Pleasant). 

Walter Slater (dec'd). 

Grace Smith-Leffingwell (Owosso, 
Mich.). 

Hattie Ratliff (teacher). 

Harold Ward (teacher. Alma, 
.Mich.). 

Myrle Rowlader (teacher). 

Glen Crowley (teacher, Saginaw). 

Joseph Stevens (teacher in govern- 
ment Indian School, Carlisle, 
Penn.). 

Marie DeWolfe (teacher). 

Grace Riley-Dersuch. 

CLASS OF 1906. 

.\. F. Wood, Superintendent. 

Charles E. White, Principal. 

Pearl Archer. 

Addie .\rnold-Elden (Clare, Alich.). 

Nora Coffin (bookkeeper). 

Florence Coutant (teacher). 

Carrie Harrison (teacher). 

Maude Harrison. 

Jessie Meade (teacher, Albion), 

Harriet Nelson. 

Ruth Newberry (in Chicago Uni- 
versity ) . 

Arlie Redfield (teacher, Owosso). 

Bernice Sherman (teacher, Char- 
levoix). 

^larie Swindlehurst. 



ISABLI.I.A COl'NTY, MICH Il.AX. 



167 



Kthcl Taylor (teacher. Coleman) 

Ruth Thiers (teacher. Phoenix. 
Ariz.). 

Buell Van Leuven (teacher). 

Sue Walsh (teacher). 

Grace Wright-Rather ( .\nii Arhur. 
Mich.). 

Margaret McCirahani ( teacher. Wis- 
consin). 

Lansing Archer (teacher). 

Flossie Burley. 

Charles Crandall (teacher). 

Kathryn Crane (attending Xornial). 

Corr\iii Dickerson (hasket factory). 

Phil Dusenhury (lunilierman). 

Jessie Hatcii ( teaciier. Onaway). 

.\niia Kane. 

Gertrude Lee (teacher). 

Ivan Livingston. 

Gertrude Maurer (teaciier). 

Reulai) Morrison (teacher). 

\'era Parkhill (teacher). 

Queena Veit (teacher). 

Maynie Johnson. 

Olive Johnson. 

Bruce Stickle (professor at Central 
Xormal). 

Bernard Dersnaii (real estate, Mt. 
Pleasant). 

Edna Hudson (teacher). 

Peter McFarlain (druggist, Mt. 
Pleasant). 

Mildred \\'aldni!i 1 teacher). 

CLASS OF 1907. 

Charles E. White. Superintendent. 
J. W. Kelder. Principal. 
Xora Coffin (bookkeeper. Mt. 
Pleasant ) . 



I'dorence Dixon. 

lone Hatch (teacher). 

Howard Johnston. 

John McXamara. 

(iladys Miller (teacher of domestic 
science. Mt. Pleasant). 

Xellie .Myers-Xeff. 

Harriet i'reston (teacher, h'.lk Rap- 
ids. Midi. ). 

.Mae Richie. 

.Malcolm Wardrop (teacher). 

Elmer Lyons (teacher). 

Grace Harrison. 

Marshall Gorham (at Ferris Insti- 
tute). 

Xettie Cowin (teacher). 

Cecil McFarrin. 

Ward Ruegsegger. 

Roy Cowin (attending Centra/ 
Xormal). 

CLASS OF 1908. 

Charles E. While. Sui)erintendent. 

J. W. Kelder, Principal. 

Elizaheth Bennett (in Uiiiversitv of 

Michigan). 
Delia Rriggs. 
Myla Clark (teacher). 
Wallace Coutant ( in I'niversitv of 

Michigan). 
Bessie Craig. 
Carrie Dean. 
Rn]]ih Ciil]')in. 
Bruce Graham (teacher. Hnwcll, 

^licin'gan). 
Elizaheth Harris (teacher). 
Roliert Kennerly. 
ixulpli l.ance. 



1 68 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



Archie Livingston. 

Alta Loyd (teacher). 

Jessie McDonald (clerk). 

Villa McMillan. 

Lovertie Page. 

Clarence Palmer. 

Minnie Prescott. 

Mabel Rice (teacher). 

I,ottie Rowlander. 

Aura Sanford (teacher, Niles, 

Mich.). 
Ruth Slater (teacher). 
Mildred Smith (in Normal School). 
Nina Struble (teacher). 
Frank Sweeney. 
Bertha Tice. 
Rov Whitehead (teacher). 

CLASS OF 1909. 

J. W. Ivelder, Superintendent. 

R. S Swigart, Principal. 

Meroe ,\dgate. 

Harry Atkins. 

John Barnum. 

Jessie Baunigart. 

Blanch Bowen. 

Herbert Brookens. 

Thor Crittenden (jewel, clerk). 

Harry Dean. 

Harold Demoray (clerk in book 

store). 
Orlo Dickerson. 
Myron Elmore. 
]\Iame Feather. 
Beulah Garvey. 
Glen Gerard. 
Jennie Gilchust. 
Merle Goolthrite. 



Sate Harris (in Normal School). 
Carrie Hoag (in Normal School). 
Emmot Hulihan (in Normal 

School). 
Jennie Jackson. 
Kenneth Jamison (in Normal 

School). 
Josephine Kimball (nurse). 
Ralph McDonald. 
Stanley McGillis (in University of 

Michigan). 
Bernard Marsh. 

Ted Morgan (San Diego, Calif.). 
Ruth Orse (in Normal School). 
George Parkhill (in Normal 

School ) . 
Loyd Prescott. 

Delia Pope (Albion College). 
Ella Ratliff. 
Edna Robertson. 
Oral Seipp. 
Edward Sprague. 
Allen Struble (teacher). 
Zetta Termaat-Ent. 
Phil Van Alstine. 
Ruth Van Leuven (in Normal 

School). 
Henry Van Omeron. 
Margarethe Weiler. 
Merle Woodworth (musician). 
Lucile Wright (in Normal School). 
Herman Frazer. 

CLASS OF 1910. 

J. \\". Kelder, Superintendent. 
R. S. Swigart, Principal. 
Edith H. ?\Iartin. Teacher. 
C. Snutherlnnd, Teacher. 



ISABELLA COUXTV, MKllK.AN. 



169 



Louise Pray. Teacher. 

Grace Fasquelle, Teaclier. 

Loretta McDonald. Teacher. 

M. Murtha. Teacher. 

Elizabeth Sullivan. Teaclier. 

H. Dutt. Teacher. 

Kathryne E. Crane. Teacher. 

Lillian B. Smith. Teacher. 

Bessie Abbott. Teacher. 

Harry A. Craig. Teacher. 

Fred S. Everest. Teacher. 

Xellie Ballister. Teacher. 

Hilary McCiuire, Teacher. 

Lee X. Griggs. Teacher. 

Roy Cowen. Teacher. 

Gladys Miller. Teacher. 

Ruth Auspaugh. 

Fred Barnum (in Normal School). 

Don Chamberlin (in Xormal). 

Alice Chapman. 

Malcolm Crawford. 

Edmund Crawford. 

Harriet Collin. 

Gertrude Cassady ( in Xornial ) . 

Ida Cowin. 

Eugene Dersnah (teacher). 

Lena De Pore. 

.Adeline De Pore. 



John Douoghuc. 

Glenn Ettinger. 

James Fitzpatrick. 

Gretchen Granger (in Xormal). 

Lucile Hagan (in Xormal). 

Flora Holcoml). 

Ella Johnson. 

Ciiester Gorham (in X^ormal). 

.\tiiold Johnston. 

William Jackman. 

Mildred Marsh (in Xormal). 

Cecil Morrison. 

Glen McGregor (Pheris Institute). 

Ethel McDonald. 

Louise Xewberry (in X'ormal). 

Ellen Xeelands. 

Margueriete Preston (in Xormal) 

Fred Peterman. 

Janet Renwick (in M. A. C). 

Edna Ritchie. 

Sophia Tice (in Xormal). 

Blanche Townsend. 

.Stewart \'eit. 

Mutnn Wiliet. 

Harold \\'aldron. 

Xina Wooley. 

Richard Davis. 

David Barnard. 



SOME OF THE EARLY SCHOOL TEACHERS. 



Among the first schools was one taught by Mrs. Arty Walton, generally 
known as Mrs. J. B. Walton, who settled in a very early day on section 4. 
in Coe township, where the family still reside and where F. Walton, now 
supervisor of that town, was born and still lives. Mrs. Walton says she 
taught that school in 1857, using the first story of their log house as a school 
room, and taught six days in each week, receiving therefor the munificent 
sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents per week. She had for scholars the 
Bigelow children. Murphy children. Eraser and Harnes children and others. 



170 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAX. 

The old lady still li\es on the place and was seventy-six years old December 
31, 1910. She has been hale and hearty for all these many years and never 
called a doctor until in the winter of 1909. Where is the youngster of today 
who expects to accomplish so much work with so little sickness to call them 
from their active labor? 

The first ballot box used in the township of Coe was preserved by the 
late Jndge P. H. Estee and is now in the possession of his son, P. H. Estee, 
Jr. It was a rough box about eighteen by twelve by ten inches and was made 
out of 'a rough board. 

The first school taught in the township of Fremont was by Grace Mc- 
Leod and the first sermon preached in the town was by John Q. A. Johnson. 
Some of the other early school teachers in the sixties were, at the Estee or 
Drake school house, Celia E. Preston in 1863, she going over a mile through 
the dense forest from her boarding house to the school and return. She after- 
ward taught in the school north of Salt River during 1863-4 and summer of 
1864. Her sister, Emma Preston, taught in the Payne district in the sum- 
mer of 1864. Wallace W. Preston taught in the winter of 1864-5 in the 
old Fay district. The school house was built of logs, as most of them were 
in those days, and was located on the northeast corner of section 32 in Chip- 
pewa township. 

At Salt Ri\-er there were several persons wlio presided over that school 
in an early day. T. E. Harbison was one of them and Jehial Gulick, who was 
afterward a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. 

Peter E. Richmond, who was afterward and for a long time a physician 
at Mt. Pleasant. The first building was an old log school house situated about 
eighty rods south of the Salt River Corners. C. C. Foutch was a teacher, and 
Harry L. Voorhees, also one Harrington and Eunice Childs. 

After Salt River was platted they built a school house in the village. 
This was built of lumber instead of logs. This school house remained and 
served the people well until very recently. 

Daniel E. Lyon taught in Salt River, also E. J. ^^'iley and Charles O. 
Curtis, who was afterward county school superintendent. .\lso Lucv Drake 
and .\lmira Sawyer. Peter F. Dodds in his younger davs was a school 
teacher. He commenced in Isabella county in 1868 and taught in the 
Estee or Drake district two terms or about one year. Then he went to 
Bouton district in Union township, where he taught first in the new school 
house two terms and from there went to the \\'illiams district in the south 
part of Coe township, where he taught one term of five months. He then 
came to Mt. Pleasant and taught something over three vears and then back 
to the Estee district for one term in the fall of 1874. 



ISABELLA COINTV. MKIIKIAN. I^r 

Ji)sc]ili A. (Iraliain taufjiit in the Salt River district ahuut 1S7O-7 and 
Hugh A. (irahain about twelve years tliereafter. 

F. H. Dodds was also one of tlie early teachers in tiie county. He 
commenced in about 1874, when he was but sixteen years old. and continued 
to teach in the rural districts of the county and in Mt. Pleasant fur about 
three years. 

Irvin Williams taught in the Estee district in the sixties. Sarah Corbus 
taught in I.sabella City district. John W. Ilance taught in 1868 or "69 in 
Hance's district, ea.st of Shepherd, and at the same time Miss Church taught 
in the district north of Hance's. 

Till'. SACRRl) I1I-:AUT SCHOOL. 

The excellent school bearing the above name is situated at Mt. Plea.sant 
and was established about 1889 and as soon as the new church had been 
sufliciently completed that they could u.se it for church purpcxses ; then the 
old church building was converted into a school building and the school was 
opened .August 30, 1889. 

Five Dominican Sisters from the mother house in Xew ^'ork, with 
Sister M. Lignovi as superioress, were chosen to take charge of the school, 
which numbered at that time about one hundred and fifty children. Since 
then the school has gradually increased and at present it numbers three 
hundred children and nine Sisters are engaged in the work of teaching. 

The academy is now organized in si.x courses of study, namely : Classi- 
cal, Latin, scientific, English, music and art. Over one hundred students 
have graduated fnmi the school since it first opened. ;is shown 1)\ the names 
and year of graduation in this report. 

Sister M. .Mphonsus. who is at present in charge of the academy, has 
worked in connection with it for the past twelve or thirteen years, has 
watched its progress step by step and has now the pleasure of knowing 
that it is aftiliated with the University of Michigan, the Central State Xor- 
nial. the Vpsilanti College and Trinity College. Washington, I). C. The 
curriculum of studies and their purposes will give a good idea of the extent 
and scope of the education to be received at the school. 

The first introduction of the child is in the sub-primary grade and 
commences with the primer, then with the spelling, numbers, geography, 
history, language, physiology, writing. Palmer system ; .science, color and 
quality. These are brought out in their more simple fonn. but thev give 
the child an idea of the begintu'ng of the study of matters and things so 
that at the end of the first year i>f their school life they are prepared to 
take up the branches in the first grade, the subjects of which are the cate- 



17-2 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

chism, reading, spelling, langnage. numbers, geography, history, physiology, 
writing, drawing and science. This is substantially the same, only it is 
one step in advance of the last. 

The second grade is the same as to topics, adding music to the list and 
still advancing a little deeper into the theme than they did in the last. 

Third grade subjects are the same, except the adding of morals and 
manners. Still advancing into the depths of the several themes still deeper. 

The fourth grade subjects are the same, except that they have substi- 
tuted arithmetic for numbers, penmanship for writing and nature study for 
science. In the first semester they finish the third reader and during the 
second semester they enter upon the fourth reader. The third reader used 
is Benz's. In language they take up in the first semester Metcalf's and 
proceed to the 50th page and during the second semester master from the 
50th to the 98th page. In spelling they take up and master twelve lessons 
of Reed's word book and the second semester from the i8th to the 37th 
page. In arithmetic, first semester. ^Milne's, from page 136 to 187 and 
second semester from 162 to 204. In geography, first semester, from page 
44 to 88, and second semester, the work is completed. History, Mont- 
gomery's, from page i to 60, and second semester, from page 60 to 116. 
Physiology. "The House I Live In." And in nature study, plants — a care- 
ful study of roots, fibers ; simple multiple. 

The fifth grade subjects are a continuance of the fourth except that 
penmanship is dropped and drawing. And they take up science for one 
semester. 

The sixtli grade still continues most of the sub)ects, changing historv 
for sacred history and placing morals and manners in the regular course, 
and taking penmanship again. 

The seventh grade continues most of the former subjects and takes 
up United States history, civil government and geometry. The outline of 
this grade is as follows: Reading, fifth reader, and for second semester, 
supplementary reading, "Vision of Sir Launfal" knd "Evangeline," etc. 
Grammar, first semester, Harvey's Elementary Lessons in Language and 
grammar completed. Second semester. Harvey's new English grammar, 
from page i to yj. Arithmetic, Alilne's Standard, from page 231 to 262, 
and second semester, from 262 to 282. Geometry, one lesson per week and 
second semester, complete the work. Spelling, Reed's work, part III. to 
page 129. Second semester, from 129 to 148. Physiology. Brand's ele- 
mentaiy. from page 173, completed, and Stowel's, to page 180. United 
States history to national period. Science, electricity, sound, two semesters. 



ISABKLI.A CDLNTV. MICHIGAN". 1/3 

Civil government, tliree recitations a week. School district. t<nvnsliip. vil- 
lage, city, county and state officers, state government, department, etc. 

The eighth grade subjects are Christian doctrine, civil government, 
grammar. United States history, physinldgy, science. ()rthogra|)hy. tor the 
first semester, and for the second, arithmetic, geography, algebra, reading, 
drawing, geometry. First semester: Arithmetic. Milne's complete, from 
bank discount to page 306. Algebra, additimi. subtraction and multiplication. 
United States history (by topics) from Revolutionary war to Civil war from 
various authors. Civil government (Crockett's State Government) to state 
constitution, page 121. (iranimar. Harvey's Xew. from page "j to 167. Phy- 
siology, Stowel's, from page 180 to complete work and review. Orthography, 
from page i to 39. Reading, "Evangeline" and '"Merchant of \'enice." 
Second semester: Arithmetic, complete the bonk. Algclira. division, frac- 
tions to page 88. United States history, complete work and review. Civil 
government. Cocker's, to page 157. drammar. from 167 to the end. Physi- 
ology, complete work and review. Orthographx'. finish. Geograpliv. review 
work from Frie's, Harper's and others. Reading. "Snow Bound." and 
"Courtship of Miles Standish." Music, three times a week. 

This in a brief way finishes the eighth gratles and entitles the pu])il who 
has finished the work to an eighth grade certificate. 

The high school department comprises a four-year course witli the fol- 
lowing subjects for the first year: First semester — Christian doctrine, rhet- 
oric, ancient history. orthogra|)hy. reviewed. Second semester — Latin, 
arithmetic, algebra, English and civil government. 

Second year: First semester — Latin. Christian <Inctrinc. algebra, arith- 
metic reviewed, general history, English. Second semester — 'I'he same as 
the first, with arithmetic dropped. 

Third year: First semester — Christian doctrine. Latin, algelira, physics, 
general histoiy, English, and for second semester they have Christian doc- 
trine, Latin, English, history, physics, rhetoric and geometiy. 

Fourth year: First semester — Christian doctrine. Latin, geometn'. 
c.om])lcte plane, English, English history, botany, and for the second semester. 
Christian doctrine, Latin, geometn,-, English. English history, botany. 

Added to these, they have a commercial course which can be completed 
in three years. This course includes United States history, grammar, or- 
thograjjliy, civil government, general history, bookkeeping, commercial law. 
English, stenography and typewriting: in oilier words, all of liie branches 
comprising a complete business course. 

The school also teaches elocution, and has a course in music. The de- 
partment of instrumental music includes the piano, banjo. \ioIin. mandolin 
and guitar. .\s a matter of fact you luay find alx)ut eveiything you require. 



174 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

There was a Sacred Alumnje Association organized in June, 1902. Tlie 
object of this association is to perpetuate the friendship of school life, and 
join tlie members in closer union : to further the interests of the Sacred Heart 
School and strengthen the ties that bind tliem to the institution. 

Tlie following is a list of tlie graduates of the Sacred Heart Scliool 
and the year of their graduation : 

For 1893 they are: Mary IMcCue. Katharine Fraser, Lillian Flood, 
Louisa r;ar\-in and Xettie ]\IcRae. There are none in 1894-5. 

1896 — Rose Gar\in, Kittie O'Boyle. Loretta McDonald. Helen Ditt- 
mann, Fannie Sweeney. Margaret Munroe, Clara Maloney. 

1897 — Nellie Garvin, Margaret Battle, Maiy Kane. Bessie Garvin. 
Nellie McCue. Agnes Donovan. 

1898 — Nellie Kane, Mary Rush. 

1899 — Mary Davis, Mary Sullivan, Lizzie McCue, Lizzie McKinnon. 
Lizzie Sullivan, Mary McRae. Katherine Shannahan. 

1900 — Lena Gallagher. Madge Davis, Anella W'ilmot, Mabel Sullivan. 
Mary Shanahan. Katharine Powell. Frank McCann. 

1901 — Helen Davis. ]\lary McGuire. Katharine McGuire, Eva Sweeney, 
Bessie McCann, Nellie Ouinn. Teresa Lynch. 

1902 — William McCan. Nellie Kenney. Cloris Sweeney. Alabel Garvin, 
May Garvin, Margaret Logan. 

1.903 — Alexander Murphy, Harry Kane, Anna Kenney, \'iola O'Horo, 
Margaret Dufifey. 

1904 — May Kenney, Nellie Ballister, Agnes Shanahan. Andrew Dono- 
van, Anslem McCarthy. 

1905 — Agnes Battle. Louise McCarthy, Sarah Smithers, Elizabeth 
Duffy. Mary Briedenstine. 

1906 — Beatrice Dondaro. Margaret McCarthy. Sabine Kane. Agnes 
O'Horo, Agnes Welsh. 

1907 — Zita Carey. Teresa McCrae, Mary Sullivan. Jenny ]\Iurray. Eva 
Carey. Nellie W^elsh. Margaret O'Horo, Eleanore Sheriden. Lenore Summers. 

1908 — Anne Sullivan. Sibbie Sullivan, Marie Flood. Rose Walsh. Mary 
E. Fraser, Mary E. Sweene}\ Hazel Carey, Anna Fitzgerald, Angela Mc- 
Carthy, Brigetta Murray, James Kane. 

1909 — Rose Kenney. May McDonald. ]\Iarie Kane. Alary Walsh. Ethel 
Garvin. Thomas McNamara. John Rush. 

T910 — Rose Sweeney. Rose Donovan. Berradita Garvin. Agata Kaiser. 
Ethel McDonald. Ethel McRae. Margaret O'Brien. Vera Walsh. John Sidley, 
Joseph Kane. Roy Dondero. Francis Young. Mary O'Horo. Retha Davis. 



ClIAl'll-.R XI. 



CEXTUAL STATE XCIKMAI. SCHOOL. 



Xo city is complete without facilities for a fumlainental eilucatioii for 
all of it.-^ inlialjitaiits, and no county is ecjuipped as she should he without 
her citizens have every facility for at least an advanced education, to the 
end that each child may he well e(|ui))pe(l for the hattles of life. Feeling; 
the importance of these e(|r.ipments and knowing that such matters come 
only to those that strive for them, a few of the citizens of Mt. Pleasant 
did. on the 24th day of May. 1892. form an association, to he known as tlie 
Mt. Pleasant Im])rovement Company. The amount of ca])ital stock was 
placed at ten thousand dollars, divided into shares of l\\ent\-fi\e dollars 
each. The charter meml)ers were D. H. Xelson. Charles M. limoks. >f. 
Devercaux, (i. A. Dusenhury. L. X. Smith. I. A. I'anchcr. W". i)ouglit\, S. 
W. Hopkins. F. D. Patterson. J. W. Hance, M. Fower. .\. .S. Coutant. 
Free Estee. O. F. Sheldon. Charles T. Russell and Cornelius lieunelt. 

On May 24. 1892. the followinjj gentlemen were duly elected directors: 
D. H. Xelson. M. Devereaux. I'. D. Patterson, 1. A. F^ancher. W. Doughty. 
S. A\'. Hopkins, G. .\. Dusenlnuy. C. M. Brooks and J. W. Hance. 

On the same day the said directors met and organized bv electing D. 
H. Xelson as president. M. Devereaux as \ icc-])resident. S. W. FIo])kins as 
secretary and F. D. Patterson as treasurer, and on the next day the directors 
met and elected C. ]\F Brooks as manager of the association, at a salary of 
two dollars and a half per day. Mr. Hopkins acted as secretary a long 
time for the company and being asked to communicate to us how the Central 
State Normal was first suggested and inaugurated, he has consented to give 
his knowledge in connection with it. and w itli his consent I give his version 
in his own words : 

"I ha\e been a.sked so many, many times how 1 came to think of such 
an institution and of building it in the way we did. that i)erhaps I had 
better explain. In 1890-1891 and along those years, Toledo, Muskegon, 
Saginaw and other towns were buying lands, ))latting and selling the lots 
and using the proceeds for the establishment of manufacturing plants. It 



176 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

was common talk that towns that would do this would increase in population 
rapidly, though everyone I know of failed in such an effort. The fact 
that I had been interested in several additions to the city gave me a knowl- 
edge of values along this line. A number of years of service as a niemljer 
of our city board of education and as school examiner and prexiously as 
teacher, gave me a knowledge of the needs and a large interest in the cause 
of education and the general welfare of our young people. I liad been 
greatly interested and active in the establishment of our Government Indus- 
trial School for Indian Boys and Girls. The telegrams and correspondence 
in this matter between the government at \\'ashington and myself, repre- 
senting the people of this community, are now in my office and may be 
seen if desired: and, so I know the necessity of more normal work and saw 
the opportunity for the establishment of such an institution of learning. 
Accordingly I penciled a plat of the south sixty acres of the Hursh farm, 
the north twenty acres having been platted as the Brown & Leaton addition, 
and counted how many lots it would make, estimated a price and learned 
in this way that enough funds could be obtained for the erection of a build- 
ing if the lots could be sold. I laid the matter before Charles M. Brooks, 
an associate of mine for years on the board of education, who espoused the 
cause with all the ardor and devotion of his nature. We then laid the 
matter before J. W. Hance and M. Devereaux, and I talked the matter 
over with A. S. Coutant. We five then called in I. A. Fancher. D. H. 
Nelson, G. H. Dusenbury, L. N. Smith, ^I. Lower, W. Doughty and F. 
D. Patterson, and after consultation we twelve decided to purchase the land 
where the school now stands. It was thought wise to engage W. W. Pres- 
ton to make the purchase, which he did for us. But before the deal was 
closed the College Hill addition and the Martin's addition were platted, the 
two occupying eight acres, so that we got only fifty-two acres of land and 
eleven lots of Martin's addition, we agreeing to pay therefor the sum i^f 
eight thousand dollars. We had no money. We borrowed five hundred 
dollars of Mr. Brooks, giving him our note in payment for it. By paying 
five hundred dollars and giving a mortgage for seven thousand five hundred 
dollars on the land and we twelve signing the note accompan_\ing the 
mortgage, we got a deed for the fifty-two acres and the eleven lots. After- 
ward one hundred and forty-five citizens took stock and became stockholders. 
Nelson soon resigned as president of the company and C. M. Brooks was 
dulv elected in his stead and occupied the position to the end of the year, 
when M. Devereaux was chosen to the place of president, D. H. Nelson, 
vice-president, S. W. Hopkins as secretary and F. D. Patterson as treasurer. 



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ISABELLA COUNTY. MICIIIGAX. I77 

and ncitlier tlie directors nor the execntive officers have been changed, Ijut 
remain tlie same to this day Brooks served the first year as manager and 
collector, S. I), lirooks as collector the second year, and Devereanx as man- 
ager. After the second year the collections as well as the soliciting was done 
unofficially, and P. F. Dodds and C. T. Russell devoted much time to this 
work, rendering substantial aid to the b<xu-d in this arduous undertaking. 
The first lot sale took place July 4, 1892. The grounds had licen jjlatted 
into a block of ten acres where the school building now stands, called Nor- 
mal Campus, and two hundred and twenty- four lots. A circular was issued 
appealing to the people for support, which was loyally given. At this 
first lot sale the ladies did their part and tables were spread in the grove 
anil all Mt. Pleasant seemed to be there. One hundred and fifty-one lots 
were sold that day and the number was increased in a few days to one 
hundred and seventy-four. The price per Jot was one hundred and ten 
dollars, the iiurchaser paying ten dollars down and five dollars per month 
thereafter. Xo interest was charged. L;iter forty-nine lots were sold, 
nearly all of them at one hundred and fifty dollars each. This gave us a 
fund with which to operate, and we decided to build. Prof. Bellows 
surveyed and platted the grounds. Previous to this. I. ha\ ing been ap- 
pointed for the purpose, went to Big Rapids and interx'iewed Professor 
Ferris, who came to Mt. Pleasant with me. looked over the grounds, inves- 
tigated our undertaking generally and lieing much pleased we seemed likelv 
to arrange to have him bring his school here, but these negotiations not 
coming to a final mutual agreement Mr. Devereaux was appointed to con- 
fer with Professor Bellows, who was then at Marquette, Miciiigan. Mr. 
Devereaux went over to ^larquette. saw Mr. Bellows, secured his services, 
and Mr. Bellows came on and took up the work. It had been decided to 
call the institution the Xormal University, as it was then intended to com- 
bine a business course with a teachers" training course as a part of the 
work. Later tiie name was changed and it was called the Central Xnrmal 
School and Business Institute. School opened in Septeml)er, 1892, in a 
brick building on block 24 of Mtr Pleasant. It started off with an ex- 
perienced and com])etent corps of teachers, Professor Bellows. Lydia H. 
Kniss, S. D. Brooks. Anna Moss. A. J. Cadman. M. C. Skinner and Man- 
Sterling l)eing among the nuiuber. The attendance was good, though later, 
when the trials of keeping up the school came, the numbers were not so 
great. Having funds from the sale of lots, it was decided to build a suitable 
structure for the accommodation of the school, and Fred Hollister, of Sagi- 
naw, an architect of some prominence, was engaged to jirepare i)lans and 

< 12) 



178 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Specifications for the same. The plans were approved and the contract for 
construction was let to George M. Edwards, of Owosso. The cornerstone 
was laid Xo\-ember 15. 1892, the Knights of Pythias officiating. A great 
crowd was in attendance, and listened to a very able address by Rev. Jorden, 
of Lansing. Mt. Pleasant was thoroughly stirred, as the cornerstone of 
the Government Indian Industrial School had recently been laid under the 
management and direction of the Masons, the address on that occasion 
having been gi\en by Hon. Hugh McCurdy, of Corunna. The plans for 
heating the normal were made by Professor Cooly, of the Uni\-ersity uf 
Michigan." 

The building was finally completed and the school moved in. Total cost 
of the building was, as per bill of Edwards, the contractor, $10,677.77. 

The citizens continued to support and maintain said school on the line 
of its original purpose. The school flourished and was considered a grand 
acquisition to our school facilities. It brought many to Mt. Pleasant from 
abroad and increased the facilities for a practical education to the pupils of 
this and surrounding counties. While the school and its influence grew the 
thought took root with the people that as the school was a necessary insti- 
tution and as there were none other in the state founded on the same thought 
and purpose, and as this was founded for the especial training of teachers 
for the rural districts and teachers in the graded schools, and as it was con- 
ceded that it was of as much importance that our teachers for the rural 
schools should have a technical preparation for teaching as any other class 
of teachers. It was further understood that the number of rural and grade 
teachers outnumbered that of the high school teachers ten to one. It was 
further in proof that of the numlter of teachers prepared for the work in 
the high schools at the other normal school, as well as at the university and 
other high grade schools, scarcely any ever saw service in the rural or graded 
schools. The question then arose, why discriminate against the boy or girl 
to be taught in the rural schocl. ^^'e thought it unjust and inequitable and 
that it ought to be remedied by the state taking over the normal school and 
its equipment, which those who had furnished the same were willing to sur- 
render on condition that the state would continue to furnish the means and 
conduct the school, and continue to enlarge the scope of the school as the 
advancement of the country should warrant. 

With these thoughts and opinions prevalent among our people, it was 
concluded that the state should be asked to take the school property to itself 
and support and conduct the same. Looking to that end. in the year 1892, 
the Hon. S. W. Hopkins, having been elected senator from tliis district. 



ISABELLA COIXTV. M U 1 1 ICAX. 1/9 

was consulted with and a l)ill was introducecl in the Senate. The hill 
did not succeed in running the gauntlet of the Legislature and rtnally failed. 
The normal school was continued and was becoming of more importance to 
the country every year. The people of Mt. Pleasant and vicinity hecame 
more and more exercised in regard to the matter and finally called for some 
effective united action. Other portions of the state were becoming interested 
in normal schools and were desiring to ha\e one located in their midst. They 
had money and lands to offer, but we had a school with a good building and 
a successful, running, live, wide-awake school. Two years passed by and 
another Legislature was to be elected. Our people were alert that a proper 
and efficient man should be elected to each branch of the Legislature. The 
result was that E. O. Shaw, of Xewaygo. was nominated and elected as sen- 
ator of this district and Robert Brown, of Isabella county, was nominated 
and elected to the House of Representatives. They pro\ed to be men of 
very much w<H"th. They were both men of sterling metal and were faithful 
adherents to the cause of the .school. Quite early in the session of the Leg- 
islature of 1895 it was made known that the Isabella peojile were in dead 
earnest as to the desire to ha\e the state father and rear the child. .\s 
this thought spread through the Legislature it was soon discovered that sev- 
eral other localities were ready and anxious to be considered as available 
places for a state normal. The ^ [jsilanti people were very soon taken with 
chills for fear that the infant child- u]) in the woods of Isabella would some 
day be dixiding honors with her and that it might, in some way hard to 
discern, draw some .small patronage from that old and long-established in- 
stitution. Of course the excuse was that we did not need another: that 
one was all that the state could afford to support, and was suflicient for all 
of the needs of the people. When informed that no considerable number of 
its graduates e\er taught in a rural district school, we were met with the 
reply that the schools were full of them, which we, of course, strenuously 
denied and furnished the indisputable proof. 

The bill was introduced quite early in the session so that all might 
ha\e all of the time they needed to inxestigate the matter: to inquire as to 
the number in other states, as well as to their necessity and efilciency as an 
educator. The parties having the matter in charge lost no time in inform- 
ing the several members and senators as to the location of the school and 
building, also the beautiful park or grove of virgin timljer on the campus 
grounds. Several senators and members made a pilgrimage to Mt. Pleasant 
to see the school and grounds and incidentally the country which was ex- 
pected to support the school and furnish pupils for the same. .\11 seemed 



l80 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

to be fairly well pleased with the building, grounds and school, as well as 
the soil, and development of the surrounding country, all of which seemed 
to be a sort of revelation to them. They were not expecting to see any- 
thing of the kind up in this pine barren region. They went back to the 
halls of legislation with quite a different notion of the country and its 
needs and deserts. After having innoculated the members of the lower 
branch of the .Legislature and the members of the Senate with normal school 
virus, the bill was reported sound and placed on the order of third reading. 
It was brought up on a Monday morning following the passage of an appro- 
priation bill for the support of the Ypsilanti Xormal. which had become a 
law on the Friday before, with the aid and assistance of all of the friends 
of the Mt. Pleasant school. The president of that school had gone home 
from the capitol after the passage of the said appropriation bill and was met 
at the depot by the students, the horses were removed from the carriage and 
the students had drawn the carriage, president, appropriation bill and all to 
the campus, where they engaged in a hilarious celebration. It was with a 
considerable astonishment that on Monday morning we were met in the 
committee room by this same president, with others from his town, with 
amendments to the Mt. Pleasant bill, which if allowed at that late date 
meant sure death to the measure, and yet they insisted on their considera- 
tion. Then it was that the indignation of the Mt. Pleasant friends of the 
measure was audibly expressed and in no uncertain sounds. The amend- 
ment was disallowed and the bill placed upon its final passage in the Senate. 
By a happy coincident of events and the peculiar reasoning of a certain 
senator, who was supposed to be antagonistic to the bill, when his name was 
called, voted "yes" and the measure was carried. Whether that vote, which 
was necessary to the passage of the bill, was given in good faith for the 
purpose of passing the bill or whether it was gi\en for the purpose of 
placing that and a similar bill in such position that neither could pass the 
House we do not know, and do not care. However, we give the gentle- 
man the benefit of the doubt and credit him with a most wonderful act of 
generosity under the circumstances. The bill having passed the Senate, it 
was reported to the House and placed on the order of third reading. Now, 
although a little nervous, we felt that we were more among our friends 
and the friends of the rural school measure then when in the Senate, and 
we were assured that the bill was all right, but, knowing that the word had 
gone around in the Senate, "'Vote for both bills and they will be killed in 
the House, for the House will ne\er vote for two normal schools at one 
session," Ave felt that there was method in their madness. So we bided 



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ISABELLA COUXTV, MICUIGAX. l8l 

our time and sufifeied tlic chills to creep up and (K>\vn our sjjine until the 
time came for tlie taking up of the l>ill. It was so carefully managed liy 
those in charge that it was to be taken up before the other liiil. wliich was 
thought to give it some precedence at least. 

Tlic time came, the measure was taken up, read a Uiird time, the roil 
call ordered and the clerk commenced to call the names of the members. 
As the members responded l)y aye or nay we could easily follow the trend 
of the \ote. It was not long before we discovered that the friends of the 
measure were largely in the majority and that the bill was safe. The votes 
were counted by the clerk and the result announced in favor of its passage. 
Ordinarily we should have felt that now we were assured tiiat the measure 
was perfectly safe. l)ut it was in the air that it must lie signeil In- the Governor 
l^efore it became a law. The Governor, as to the measure, was to us an un- 
known (juantity. He was very reticent and was not forward in expressing 
his ajiproval or disapproval of the measure. We understood him to be 
fairly liberal in the matter of education and tiiat bis dispositir)n toward the 
farmer was fair and perhajis liberal. So we must wait and watch and see 
what we could hear as to his disposition toward this measure. The time 
passed day by day and yet no sign of the Governor appro\ing the liill. 
Finally, the last day on which tlic Goxeriior could approve it came and our 
best information was that he did not intend to. A telegram was sent to 
the .senator of this district, Hon. E. O. Shaw, of Newaygo, asking him to 
go to Lansing and interview the Governor, and ascertain his purpose and 
see if there were any obstacles in the way that could be removed. The 
Senator made haste to reach the Go\ernor and to remove any obstacle that 
might be troul)ling the e.Kecutixe. He reached Lansing on the last day, re- 
paired to the executive office, interviewed the incumbent of that office, re- 
moved the last obstacle and came away with the assurance that the Gov- 
ernor would approve the measure, which he did, not, however, until he 
had obtained the assurance that the citizens here would continue their finan- 
cial support of the school until a certain specified time. It was considered 
rather severe treatment, but we took our medicine and pronounced it good, 
supposing that this would be the last dose. In this, howe\er, we were really 
nii.staken. There was still another condition to be met, to-wil : In the bill 
it was provided that the title to the block of land was to be accompanied 
with an abstract and tax history of the lot and that this was to l)e submitted 
to the attorney-general for his apiiroval. So it fell to a couple of our worthy 
citizens to repair to Lansing with the deed, abstract and tax historv, and 
present the same to the worthy attorney-general. He received the same and 



l82 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

after scanning it seemed to be taken with ciiills. he turned cold and soinewliat 
irritable, whether from the length and intricacy of the document or from a 
desire to escape the labor necessary to compass the matter we don't know; 
an\-wav, after quite a full explanation of the documents, it being the noon 
hour, they separated and retired to get a warm meal. It must be remem- 
bered that the land of which this was a part had passed through a long and 
interesting litigation. It having been four times tried in the circuit court 
and as many times in the supreme court of the state, it [jerhaps might 1)e 
expected to stagger any ordinary person. An}- way returning after luncheon 
to the office of the said attorney-general, they found him in a more appreciable 
mood and with a few more kinks taken out of the snarl of seeming knots and 
snarls he saw the light, donned his specs, picked up his pen, immersed it in 
the inkstand, and deliberately indicted "John Doe, Attorney-General." The 
child was an animated being, of full stature, with all of his faculties, a living 
entity, full of energy and hope for the future. 

THE BILL. 

Act 261 of Laws 1895 — An Act to estaljlish a Normal School in Cen- 
tral Michigan. Section i. — The People of the State of Michigan enact, 
That a normal school for the preparation and training of persons for teach- 
ing in the rural district schools, and the primary departments of the graded 
schools of the state, to be known as "Central Michigan Normal School," 
be established and continued at the city of Mt. Pleasant, in Isabella county, 
to be located upon block 10 of the Normal School addition to said city, 
known as "Normal Campus"' and being a block of land in area between 
eight and ten acres. 

-Sec. 2. — The state board of education is hereby authorized and directed 
to procure a good and sufficient deed of conveyance, to be accompanied 
with abstract of title and tax history, to be approved by the attorney- 
general, convex'ing to the said board of education and its successors a good 
and unincumbered title in fee simple to said lands and buildings thereon, 
for such school, and a proper article of sale of all the library, school furni- 
ture and apparatus therein, said lands and buildings, and personal property 
to be donated to the state of ^Michigan, in consitleration of the establishment 
of said school, and to be conxeyed within .... da)'s after the passage of 
this act. 

Sec. 3. — Said school shall be under and subject to the control of the 
state board of education, according to the provisions of Act 194 of the 



ISABELLA COUNTV. M UK IllAX. 183 

public acts of eiglitecn huiKlred and eiglny-nine «>l .Micliigan. entitled "An 
act to revise and consolitlate tlie laws relative to the state board of educa- 
ation, and amendments thereto," which is made applicai>le to this school, 
except as herein otherwise provided. 

The provisions in the former act referred to are the fojhnving. to-\vit : 

"Section 5. — Said board shall pro\ide all necessary courses of study 
to be i)ursued in the normal school and establish ;ui<l niainlain in cnniiection 
therewith a full}- etiuipped training school as a school of observation and 
practice, and shall grant, upon the completion of either of said courses, 
such diploma as it may deem best, and such diploma when granted shall 
carry with it such honors as the extent of the course for which the diploma 
is gi\en may warrant and said board of education may direct. 

"Sec. 6. — Upon the completion of the course specially prescribed as 
hereinbefore provided for the rural and elementary grade schools, said 
board of education shall. u])on the recommendation of the principal and a 
majority of the heads of the departments of said school, grant a certificate, 
which shall be signed by said board and the princi[)al of the normal school, 
which certificate shall contain a list of the studies includeil in said course, 
and which shall entitle the holder to teach in any of the schools of the 
state for which said course has Ijeen provided for a jieriod of five years: 
Provided. That said certificate may be suspended or revoked by said state 
board of education upon cause shown by any county board of examination, 
or by any board of school officers. '' 

After the passage of the above bill and its final appro\al by the execu- 
tive and the attorney-general, and the state had finall\- taken it over to 
itself, do you wonder that the good people of Mt. Pleasant and Isabella 
comity felt like celebrating the event with ])roper and appropriate ceremo- 
nies, and that our senator and representative who had made the successful 
fight for the passage of the same should be honored and toasted ? 

It was surely one of the most important and notable events in the 
hi.story of the county — one that stands for a higher and l)etter civilization: 
one that has had a wonderful elevating effect in our community and is destined 
to continue and enlarge as the years go by: one that has added thousands 
to the property of the city, and beauty and finish to the homes of our 
people and a higher intelligence among our people, as well as a great 
impetus to the rising generation for a better and more practicable educa- 
tion and a more liberal and humanitarian conception of life. 

Xew and advanced thought has been engendered in our educational 
institutions: higher conceptions of life and a more comprehensive view- 



184 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

point has been gained for the student and a broader vision of life and its 
reahties are coming to us every day. 

The course of studies was a modest one at the time of the commence- 
ment of the normal, and consisted of preparatory subjects for the first 
semester : 

Reading and orthography, twenty weeks ; United States history, twenty 
weeks: elementary algebra, twenty weeks; physiology and pedagogy, 
twenty weeks. 

This course was expected to occupy a school year for those who had 
completed the public school elementary course and were ready to enter the 
high school. These subjects were intended to cover what was necessaiy 
for a third grade certificate. For the Five- Year Certificate Course it took 
the following: 

First Year — First semester : Drawing, rhetoric, algebra, vocal music, 
each twenty weeks. Second semester: English histor}-, botany, plane 
geometiy, English literature, each twenty weeks. 

Second Year — First semester: United States history, American litera- 
ture, solid geometry, psychology, each twenty weeks. Second semester : 
Physics I, twenty weeks; physiology review, penmanship, twenty weeks; 
arithmetic review, grammar review, twenty weeks ; psychology applied, 
twenty weeks. 

Third Year — First semester : Physics II, twenty weeks ; civil go\ern- 
ment, twenty weeks; geography review, history of education, twenty weeks; 
methods in common branches, twenty weeks. Second semester: General 
history, twenty weeks; method in science, method in history, twenty weeks; 
teaching, forty weeks. 

This course of study is intended to be so complete that, a year of work 
being added at Ypsilanti, the applicant will be entitled to a life certificate. 

As set forth in the first circular issued, the management gave it as 
the special purpose of the school the preparation of teachers for the rural 
schools and of the primary departments of the graded schools. 

"The work in every department and in each and every branch of study 
is strongly professional throughout. The student is never for an hour 
out of consciousness of the fact that he is regarded as undergoing prepara- 
tion for teaching. 

"It is not the purpose of the Central Michigan Normal School to 
hurriedly and temporarily prepare students for examinations, but, to the 
extent of its course, to thoroughly teach and train them to meet the im- 
portant and increasing demands of public school work. 



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ISABELLA COUNTV, MICHIGAN. I S3 

"Special pains are taken to adapt tlie scIkkjI to the wants of indixidual 
students. Personal work occupies a large place in addition to the general 
work of the classes. To do each pupil as much gocnl as possible is the 
great end always in view. 

"Signed, C !■'. R. Bicllows, Principal. " 

The spirit and guidance of this circular has followed the school from 
its inception, and lias been departed from only when there seemed to be 
some opportunity to improve upon tlie same. It lias at all times been the 
purpose of the principal and faculty of the school to seize upon every ad- 
vance thought that has been promulgated and after due deliberation and 
investigation thought to be for the best interests of the school student. 

The state, ever since it took upon itself the management and supporf 
of the school, has been very lilicral in its appropriations, not only for the 
j)ay and support of the school, but also for its improNemenl and extension. 
They have added to its capacity by adding wings to eitlier side of the 
original building, fully doubling its capacity and effectiveness. When the 
building was first built the heating plant was in the basement of the building. 
Since tiiat time a new and independent heating plant has Ijeen erected on 
an adjoining block of land at an expense, including the land, of some twentv- 
five thousand dollars. This plant is connected with the main school building 
I)y a tunnel which is covered so the pipes can l)e iiung up and made easv of 
access. It is also used for the heating of the training scliool building, w hich is 
a large and commodious building of ca])acity to accommodate .some three 
liundred students, being distributed into nine grades. At first it was very 
inconvenient to ha\e the use of the city schools for training school purposes, 
and it was considered somewhat (piestionable whether the schools of the 
city siiould be used for that purpose. Our pecjple had no (juestion but it 
would be an excellent idea to have some pupils for the normal student to 
practice upon, but whether it would be best for the cliild that was used 
for the practice was quite another (juestion. It was finally decided that a 
trial might be made and if it was found to be not for the Ijest interest of our 
school children we would stop the practice. .\ trial was made and after all 
things were properly adjusted and it was found that no deleterious effect could 
be discovered, it was allowed to continue. .\t first, the normal having no 
school rooms for the purpose, the teachers were obliged to go to the ward 
schools of the city, .\fterward and after it was decided that the practice 
was advantageous to the normal student and was also found to work no 
disadvantage to our children, the state was asked to make an appropriation 
of sufficient funds to erect a suitable building for training school purposes. 



l86 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

The Legislature of 1901 very generously appropriated the sum of thirty- 
two thousand dollars for such a l)uilding and for the purchase of some 
grounds for such purpose. The building was erected and found to be a 
good acquisition for our school purposes. It has lately been somewhat 
overhauled to make it more convenient and efficient, as well as being beau- 
tified bv a nice porch on the west side of the building facing upon Xormal 
avenue. 

The Legislature had, in 1899, appropriated the sum of forty-three thou- 
sand dollars for an addition to the normal school building and for the 
purchase of some extra land, .\fter the addition to the building, it was 
still too small and in 1901 they ap[)ropriated another eighteen thousand dol- 
lars for the erection and completion of the east wing of the main building. 
This addition gave them, as they then thought, all that they would need for 
son-»e time. But. as we all know, the matter of education is an e\-ei- 
ad\-ancing proposition and one that calls fur impro\'ements all the time. A 
school can no longer stand still and e.xpect to keep up with the times. Stag- 
nation is as much death to an institution of learning as to any other business. 
The surplus energy of the child has to ha\e \ent or the child is stunted, 
and while he ma}- be able to con o\-er books for a considerable length of time 
without material injury, the time is coming sooner or later when nature will 
assert itself and the child must have physical e.xercise or fail to come up to 
the best that there is in him. None of us are satisfied with less than the 
\ev\ best attainalile. so grounds were secured and put in proper condition 
for baseball, football and lawn tennis, at con\'einent places so that the stu- 
dents could a\'ail themsehes of the practice without too much loss of time. 
Now they ha\e two tennis courts and a jjlat of ground which answers the 
double purpose of a baseball and football field, all convenient to the school 
buildings. You can easily see that with all of the improvements made at 
the school and grounds there ought to Ije and have been large additions to 
the attendance at the school and this has not onl_\- filled up the empty space, 
but has called loudly for further improx'ements and additions, so that it 
became necessary to go to the Legislature of 1907 and ask for some fifty 
thousand dollars for a physical training building. Also some six thousand 
dollars for other improvements to make the old buildings \\hat they ought 
to be. The pre\-ious Legislature had appropriated the sum of five thou- 
sand dollars to purchase a block of land west of the main building and the 
north half of block 7, Normal School addition, conditioned that the citizens 
of ]\It. Pleasant donate suflicient to purchase the property desired, which 
they did, amounting to something o\-er three thousand dollars. The physi- 



ISABELLA COLXTV. MKIIIGAX. iBj 

cal training huikling- was built as per plans and specifications by tbe state 
architect and is considered one of the best in the state. They provided in 
that for a large promenade hall sufficient for all of the students to be on 
■ their feet at the same time and to move around with proper decorum. A 
swimming pool, gyriinasium ])ractice for boys and girls, with proper dress- 
ing r(ioms and the paraphernalia accompanying tlie same. Also recitation 
rooms and places for all tiic apparatus re(|iiircd in a first-class physical 
training department. 

Another metiiod of ascertaining the progress made in the last fifteen 
\ears can be attained by a careful perusal of the curriculum of studies and 
list of teachers, as follows : 

SCHEDILE OF CL.JiSSES FOR IHi: ^ iAK I()in I'oK r (IK CKXI'RA:. .STATE .\()KM.\I.. 

Biology — Teacher, W-oldt : Botany and zoology in tiieir several 
dixisions. 

Drawing — Teaclier. W'ightman : Drawing comi)osition and design. 
M.iiiion: Training school, mechanical drawing. 

English — Teacher, Lowe: Masterpieces, .\merican Literature. F.nglisli, 
Composition. Tate : Grammar. Composition. English Literature. Sabine : 
Rhetoric, Classics, Grammar. 

Geography — Teacher. CalUins : Geography, .\strononiy. Piiysiugraphy. 
Stickle : Elementary Geography. 

Historv — Teacher Larzelere : History. Political Science. V. S. Civics, 
Mich. Gov. Burt: General. L". S.. Greek and English History. 

Kindergarten — Teacher, .Merriam: Training .school, literature for 
child, kindergarten. 

Latin and Grammar — Teacher, Barnard: Latin and (ierman generally. 
Allen : Latin and Grammar generally. 

Manual .Arts — Teacher. Miller; Training School and Manual Arts. 
Michaels: Sewing. Training School. Manual Training. Cooking. 

Mathematics — Teacher. Bellis : Trigonometry. Arithmetic. Wdrden : 
Geometry, .\rithmetic and .Algebra. Stickle: Algebra. 

Music — Teacher. .Maybee: Music, Composition. History of Music, 
A'oice Culture. Swen.son : Music. Elements of Music. Training School. 
George : Harmony. 

Psvchology — Teacher. Rowe : Psychology. History of Education. Bill- 
ings: Experimental Psychology and School Management. Renan : Physi- 
ology. Physical Training. 



l88 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Physical — Teacher, Ronan: Physiology and physical training. 

Education — Teacher, Anderson : Physical Training and Training School. 
Helmer: Elementary Gymnastics, Foot Ball. 

Reading and Public Speaking — Teacher, Beddow : Reading, elements 
of elocution, public speaking. 

Science of Agriculture — Teacher, Cobb : Physics, chemistry, agricul- 
ture and nature study. 

In connection with the general work of the Central State Normal is 
the summer school, which is designed to meet a great want of teachers who 
feel that in some matters they are not in as good form as they ought to 
be to give satisfaction to themselves in their teaching or to the district. 
This course for the summer is one that has been installed within the past 
ten years and has proved to be of great importance. It has grown from 
the first, and will continue to grow as time goes by for the reason that it 
is founded to meet a great necessity found among teachers. They all get 
dull on all subjects that are not constantly before them, and if they are to 
keep abreast of the times they must of necessity go through the polishing 
process, and then they come out fresh and bright. Not only that, but 
they will have a store of knowledge that they could not acquire in any other 
way. The growth of the institution also shows its importance. In 
1901 when the summer school was first put upon its trial the enrollment 
was one hundred and fifty-six students, while after it had been in being 
nine years it has grown from six hundred to seven hundred for the last 
four years. 

The faculty for the last year was as follows : Charles T. Grawn, A. 
M., Al. Pd., president, with Lucy A. Sloan, M. S., English language and 
literature: Elizabeth R. Wightman. drawing: Anna M. Barnard, A. AI., 
Latin and German; R. D. Calkins, M. S., geography; Claude C Larzelere, 
A. M., historv and civics; Eugene C. Rowe. Ph. D., psychology and edu- 
cation: Harper C. Maybee, music: William D. Miller, manual arts; Lillian 
K. Sabine, A. B., instructor in Engli.sh ; Orpha E. Worden, A. B., instructor 
in mathematics; Bertha M. Ronan, instructor in physical training; Maude 
E. Allen, A. B., instructor in Latin and German; William H. Wentworth, 
A. B., instructor in physics; Lucy S. Norton, A. B., instructor in history: 
Minnie I. Termaat, instructor in geography and English: Emma M. Hol- 
brook, A. B.. B. Pd., instructor in English; Harriett L. Sherman, instructor 
in drawing; ;\Iyrta AI. Wilsey, instructor in arithmetic; Irene Swenson, 
instructor in music: Elizabeth ]\Ierriam. kindergarten ant! literature for chil- 
dren: E. C. Warriner. A. B., superintendent of schools, Saginaw. Mich., 



ISABF.U.A COLNTV. MKIIUIA.N". 189 

instructor in school supervision and liistory of education ; L. L. Forsythe, 
A. B., superintendent of schools, St. Louis, Mich., instructor of history 
and civics; J. E. Porter, A. B.. ])rincipal of higii school, Cadillac, ^fich., 
instructor in chemistry and pliysics : M. D. Jerome, superintendent of 
schools, Everet, Mich., instructor in mathematics; J. W. Kelder, A. B., 
superintendent, Mt. Pleasant schools, instructor in mathematics; Helen B. 
King Ph. B., department of biology, Saginaw, E. S., high school, instructor 
in biological sciences; Jessie A. Long, department of domestic science and 
art, Saginaw higli school, instructor in cooking and sewing: Alabama 
Brenton, super\isor of drawing, Muskegon, Mich., instructor in drawing; 
Lucetta Crum, A. M., Clark L'niversity, Worcester, Mass., instructor in 
psychology and pedagogy; E. T. Cameron, commissioner of schools. Isa- 
bella county, Michigan, instructor in institute courses, with M. Louise Con- 
verse, A. B., as librarian; Elizabeth Saxe, assistant librarian, Sylvia Halsey, 
assistant; with Bessie Gaunt, secretary, and Lena B. Pollex, stenographer. 
To this should be added a well-selected library of something o\'er thirteen 
thousand volumes. With such an equipment there can be no question 
as to the efficiency of the school and tlie incalculable good it is to the people 
of the state of Michigan. 

Something may be gained as tu the efficiency anil extent of the good 
work done at the Central State Normal since its advent in this community 
l>y a reference to the nuuihcr and class of graduates. The total number 
of graduates up to December, lyio, is one thousand nine hundred and 
eighty-two. They are di\idcd as follows: Three in drawing and manual 
arts, four in drawing and manual training. ti\e in manual arts, nine in 
music and drawing, two in sj^ecial music, seven in music, fifteen in public 
school music, forty-three in kindergarten, three hundred and eighty-six have 
taken life certificates, seven, hundred and seventeen have finished the rural 
course and seven hundred and ninety-one ]ia\e finished the gradeil course 
and been awarded certificates. 

The school has adopted another and \ery i)enelicial practice which re- 
quires the professors, after they have been engaged a number of years 
continuously, to take a year off and attend some up to date university and 
there spend a school year in brushing up on old matters and taking in all tiiat 
is new and advanced in the various lines in which they are principally en- 
gaged. This puts them in touch with the foremost thought of the time 
and the better prepares them to communicate these better and more recent 
investigations to their pupils. It is a well settled idea that no one can 
impart any knowledge to others tiiat they do not themselves possess. Under 



igO ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

t 

these arrangements President Grawn has spent a season in New York, Miss 
Sloan, Miss Wightman, ^liss Barnard. Professor Calkins, Professor Lar- 
zelere, Professor Rowe. Professor Maybee, Professor Tambling, Professor 
Bellis and others that we do not now recall. Some are now absent under 
the same arrangement, among them Professor Tambling, who is in New- 
York City. 



CHAPTER XII. 



TOrUXAI.ISM. 



Journalism is today one of the most important enterprises known to 
man. The general diffusion of knowledge among the masses and the 
improvement in facilities for quick transportation and delivery of mail as 
well as the insatiable desire of every one to see the newspajjer. whether 
he be a minister of the gospel (except on Sunday and possibly some of them 
take a peek at it after church), lawyer, school professor, foot ball crank, base- 
ball, basket-ball, or what not. all want to see the news. In a slight degree 
it was so back in the sixties when the town was \ery new. (). P.. Church 
started a weekly paper called the \ art Item Pioneer, the first issue of which 
was dated November 30. 1864. It was Republican in principle and has al- 
ways maintained that allegiance to the present time. It has changed its 
name to that of the Isabella liiilerf^rise. and is now owned and cimtrolled 
by B. M. (lould and is located on the west side of North Main street, just 
north of the Donovan hotel. It has written its own history and has had 
several different pro])rietors. Mr. Church sold a half interest to James P. 
\\'elper and afterward the other half to Myron McLaren, who afterward 
bought out \\'elper. He then sold to I. A. Fancher, who sold to Albert Fox. 
who owned and controlled it until the time of his death, in February. 1873. 
It was then sold to John R. Doughty, in July. 1873. who owned and con- 
ducted it until 1885. when he sold to .\. S. Coutant. who has continued to 
pul)lish the paper with marked success until November 29. 1909. when he 
sold and transferred llie pajier to B. ^K Cmuld. who is now the owner and 
])ublisher of the same. Mr. (iould is a ])ractical ])rinter and a splendid 
editor and is faithfully kee])ing uj) the reputati(^n of the sheet and adding 
to the long list of subscribers, so that at the present writing it boasts of a 
subscription list of some two thousand five hundred. It is still Republican 
in politics and an advocate of sound ])rinciples in party as well as in busi- 
ness. It is a paper worthy of the support it receives. In 1875, while it 
was yet f)wned by Mr. Doughty, the office was destroyed by fire of an in- 
cendiary nature. Having no insurance, it was a total loss, but Mr. Doughty, 



192 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

not daunted, ordered a new outfit, set it up in his residence and issued the 
paper on the regular day in the next week. In 1884 he reduced the price 
to one dollar a year. 

In September, 1879, the Nortlnvestern Tribune was established at Salt 
River by Dr. S. C. Brown & Sons and was conducted there until March, 
1 88 1, when it was transferred to Mt. Pleasant, where they continued to 
conduct it with the same zeal and energy that they had at Salt River. The 
Doctor being a red-hot Republican, was not content to live at so unsavory 
a political town as Salt River on account of the class that he was obliged 
to associate with during the years after the Rebellion. He was a natural- 
Ijorn politician and liked it as well as a small boy likes doughnuts. 

They continued to conduct their paper until 1886, when they took in 
A. X. Brown as a partner. The paper was run for a time and then it went 
into the hands of a company which turned it over to A. N. Brown and he 
run it for a time and then sold it to W. E. Preston and E. S. Bowen. Jul\- 
10, 1890. They continued the publishing of the paper till May, 1891, and 
then Preston sold to Bowen & Son and it afterwards got into the hands of 
McConnelly & Co., of Chicago. This company sold to A. S. Coutant, and 
he continued to publish it until he sold to B. M. Gould November 29, 1909. 
He continued to publish the paper as before imtil January i, 1910. when 
it was merged in the Enterprise, and ceased to exist. 

Inuring the soldiers" encampment in 1890, W. E. Preston published a 
daily paper for about ten days. It was called the Daily Tribune and was 
highly appreciated and liberally patronized. 

The Mf. Pleasant Times was the production of Henry H. Graves, who 
established it in 1877, he being the proprietor and James \\\ Long, his 
brother-in-law, editor. It was at first Democratic, the owner being of that 
political persuasion. After continuing in that line for some time, it was 
changed to a Greenback paper and run as such until November 19, 1879. 
wlien Major James W. Long became its owner and proprietor. 

Major Long ran the paper for a time and then sought a better job and 
went away from the town, leaving the printing press and material packed 
away. Then Fred Russell and William T. Whitney purchased the said ma- 
terial and started the .1//. Pleasant Democrat. Russell remained for a time 
and then sold his interest to Whitney. Whitney conducted it for a time and 
then sold to J. W. GritSth, who conducted for a time and he sold to Brandon 
& McGrath, who published it for a time, when McGrath went out and 
Brandon continued it until he died. After his death, Mrs. Brandon, with 
her daughter. Miss \\'illmoth, conducted it until 1890, when it was sold to 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. I93 

Frecl Russell and 11. A. Miller, who coiidiicted it for a while, wiieii Russell 
sold his interest to .Miller. Miller published it until the Mt. Pleasant Pub- 
lishing Company was formed and the paper was turned over to it. It 
has since run under that organization, but of late Harry Miller, a son of 
H. .\.. has the managing of the matter. Somewhere during its devious 
travel its name was changed to that of the Isabella County Courier. It still 
retains its |)olitical complexion and is a strong ad\'ocate of all that is good 
in politics. 

The present Central Mieliiyan Tiuies was started by one Theron A. 
Johnson about Septemlier, 1894. He issued four numbers and then sold 
the paper to F. C. Crego and Fred Olmstead, who continued to publish 
for about a year and a hall. It was started as a Populist paper and con- 
tinued as such for a time. They then sold to Fred Russell and Clayton 
Bowen, who conducted it for about two years when Russell disposed of 
his interest to Bowen, who carried on the enterprise until 1901, when the 
Mt. Pleasant Publishing Company was formed and took over the paper and 
for a time i)ublished that and the Courier. Tiien the Tinnw was sold to 
one C. H. Rorabacher, who carried it on until .\pril, 1894. when he sold 
to \\\ O. Hullinger, who is still the owner and ]iroprietor. It is now and 
has been ever since Mr. Hullinger tonk hold of it a stanch Republican 
sheet and stands for all that is good in Republicanism. It is one of the 
strongest of the papers in the place. It publishes weekly a full report of 
the special items of interest from the various localities and the several towns 
of the county, which makes it of interest to all of the people. It is a good. 
clean issue and worthy of the patronage it enjoys. Its circulation is now 
one thousand eight liundred and fift\'. which means that it reaches about 
ten thousand people a week with its message of information and knowledge, 
to entertain and instruct the wear\- tra\eler as he journeys along through 
life. 

Away back in the early eighties there was a ])aper started by one Fred 
Lewis, of Saginaw, and conducted largely by his son. It was called the 
Observer, and was located in the north part of town on lot i, block 5, Mt. 
Pleasant. It was Democratic in politics and contiiuied to issue for a short 
time and then departed. 

The l.s-abella County Republiean was started by \\'. E. Brown & Son 
on December 13. 181)3, and has continued ever since. It was then and is 
now published at Shepherd Michigan. It is Republican in politics, as it 
naturally wnuld be from the fact that tiie owners are son and grandson 



194 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

of Dr. S. C. Brown, who started the Northwestern Tribune. The Browns 
are running a good, strong paper and are giving good satisfaction to their 
patrons and are giving all that could be expected in that community. They 
have a good iield. as the township and village are largely Re]niblican and 
comprise a stanch, well-to-do and prosperous community. The thirteen 
hundred papers issued and distributed from week to week give to their pa- 
trons a fund of knowledge and information that would not be accessible but 
for this weekly sheet. They deserve all the patronage and popularit}' that they 
now possess and enjoy, and it is hoped they may continue in spreading the 
good news and instruction to the people of that bright burg and the sur- 
rounding country for many years to come. They have a power press known 
as the Prouty power press. They yet fold the paper l:)y hand. 

In the fall of 1874 another newspaper was started by a company in 
the interest of the Grange, which then was prosperous and flourished in 
this county. It advocated the principle of the Grange, and so far as could 
be discovered it was Democratic in its political tendencies. It was named the 
Isabella Coiiiitx Herald, but afterward took upon itself the interesting and 
impressive cognomen of Morgan's ll'atclitoicer. This paper, under Morgan, 
gained a most notorious reputation. Its hand was against e\'eryl>ody and 
everybody's hand was against it. It was a scurrilous sheet, each week belch- 
ing out foul and malicious odors through its columns until the people could 
stand it no longer, when criminal proceedings were commenced and in the 
end the paper was discontinued and the editor skipped the country and, so 
far as the historian knows, never returned. The JJ'atchtmcer died and has 
been forgotten, if not forgiven. 

It must not be forgotten to mention the issue of the District School 
Journal, published by the then county school superintendent, Charles O. 
Curtis. It was a journal worthy the cause it advocated, that of the educa- 
tion of the youth of the time. It had three issues of alx)ut one thousand 
two hundred each, and continued until the office of superintendent was abol- 
ished. The issue was a movement in the right direction, and had the pleas- 
ing effect of stimulating all to renewed energy in the cause of education. 

The evolution of the newspaper business has kept pace with the ad- 
vancement in other classes of business. All will remember the did hand- 
lever ]5ress which required a good strong '■de\ir" to work it. That has 
been replaced by the power press, which is largely operated by electricity 
and which will print about fifteen hundred an hour as compared with tlie 
hand press that started the ])erspiration at two hundred and fifty. .Xnd then 
the\- are setting t_\-pe now as _\-ou would run a typewriter and the same machine 



IS.\1!ELI,A COLXTV. MKIIIGAX. I95 

takes away all of the i)lcasi;rc of distributing type, as the pesky thing does 
its own (hstrilnnini^ of type. Tlien again that backaching luxury of fold- 
ing papers is now all denied the printer's "dex il" by a machine which picks 
up the ])apcr and folds it a gocMl (pnckcr than one can tell vou about it. It 
is feared they will yet come to the ])oint where they will dispense with the 
"de\ir" altogether, especially in the printing shop. 

In another ot'tice one may see a tall machine, wiiich looks something 
like an aeolian bar]), with a gentleman at the side of it thinking oul what 
he wants the thing to sa\- and as fast as he decides the thing picks out the 
proper type. i)uts it in ])Iace. carries it around to the other side of the ma- 
chine, puts it in place, melts some tyi)e metal, puts that in its proper place, 
chucks the type against the metal and you have a line of printed matter 
to set in a frame, carried to the forms, jjlaced in shape, carted to the power 
press and then, touch a button, the thing begins to move and out comes the 
printed thought of the typesetter just as if the whole thing was alixe and 
working to a given end. Xow slide it along to the folder and it folds them 
for the mailer: it puts on your name and address, it is carted to the postoffice, 
where it is handed to the rural free delivery man and next day at ten 
o'clock you ha\e all the news at yom- home, fifteen to tweiit_\--five miles in 
the country. A\'hat next, you exclaim! Well, what do you want next, for 
in all hutnan i)robability it will be yours in a very limited space of time. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



BAXKS AND ISAXKING. 



Banks are generally considered of prime necessity in any well-eqnipped 
business community. Mt. Pleasant is no exception to this rule. The first 
venture in that direction was about the year 1873-4, when one Rufus Smith 
established a very mild I:)usiness in lianking. He was located on the west 
side of Main street, north of the Donovan house. He carried on something 
of a business for some time and then closed out. 

The next venture was that of Hicks, Bennett & Company, who organ- 
ized, in April, 1875, as a private banking institution, with Robert Young 
as cashier. They conducted the business under his supervision until 1876, 
when Albert B. Upton came to Mt. Pleasant and took the position of 
cashier, with some personal interest in the concern. Upton remained in 
the active control of the bank until January i, 1884, when he retired and 
went into the land and lumbering business. The bank was then reorgan- 
ized into a national bank, under the name of the First National Bank of 
Mt. Plea.sant. with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. Robert M. 
Steel, of St. Johns, ^Michigan, held the controlling interest in the stock, 
with his son, George Steel, in charge of his interests. There were also 
some lesser stockholders in ]\It. Pleasant, George L. Granger, F. \\'. Carr 
and D. Scott Partridge, a stockholder and also cashier. This was also a 
bank of issue and put out twelve thousand five hundred dollars in bills. It 
continued in business until the panic of 1895. when, on account of the strin- 
gency- of the money market and the embarrassment of Mr. Steel, the bank 
closed. It was placed in the hands of a receiver, Charles Wilson, of Grand 
Rapids, a fine man but with but little if any knowledge of the value of assets 
and but little tact in handling such commodities. He held the position for 
some time, when he resigned and George Reed, of Mt. Pleasant, was put 
in as receiver to close up the concern, which be did. selling in a bunch all 
of the assets left. 

In 1899, June 20. \\'ebl)er & Ruel formed a copartnership, with a 
capital of ten thousand dollars, and oi>ened up a bank in the old National 
Bank buildins;. with Elton T. ^'an Leuven as cashier. This bank continued 



ISABELLA COfNTV, MICHIGAN. I97 

to do a fair business until about June, 1903, when the Isabella County State 
Bank was organized, with a cash capital of thirty tliousand dollars, with 
John S. Weidman, a capitalist, with a controlling interest in the concern. 
With him are connected some of our strong financiers as follows: A. Z. 
Campbell, F. G. Theirs, F. Mitchel, E. J. \'an Leuven, F. H. Dodds. 
T. Gray, J. Kelley, L. D. Cole and J. S. Weidman, Jr. It is a strong and 
conservative body of business men. calculated, by their \ery presence, to 
convince the public that they are good bankers. With \'an Leuven installed 
as cashier, no one need worry about tiieir money not being safe in that bank. 
From their report of November 10, 1910, it appears that their resources 
are five hundred thirty-two thousand nine hundred fifty-three dollars and 
forty-three cents. This bank is also considered a stanch and substantial 
institution and worthy of liberal patronage. They, too, own their banking 
building, which is a substantial and commodious building and well equipped 
for banking purposes. It is centrally located in the city and also contains 
the Mt. Pleasant Opera House, as well as a store and office for the piesi- 
dent of the banking company. 

George A. Dusenbury and Iiis brotlicr William, in tlie year 1881, 
engaged in the business of private banking and loaning money on real estate 
security. This they continued with marked success until 1888. when the 
business was organized into a joint stock company with a twenty-five thou- 
sand-dollar capital, divided into two Innidrcd and fifty shares of one hundred 
dollars each, and the name was changed to that of Dusenbury. X'clson & 
Company. This was a strong combination, the business being supervised 
by G. A. Dusenbury. in whom exery one had liie utmost confidence, he 
being known to be a very careful and ])rudent financier. 

The bank continued to do business under this name and direction until 
March 19, 1894. when it was organized into the Exchange Saxings Bank, 
with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. The stockholders were then 
George A. Dusenbury, D. H. Xelson. J. Kinney. W. C. Dusenbury, L. 
N. Smith, C. M. Brooks, O. M. Sheldon, C. A. Kellogg and A. E. Gor- 
ham. They were all good men and conservative in business. In 1895 
George A. Dusenbury was renioxcd from thcni by death and since then 
the com])iexion of the bank has somewhat clianged. For all that, others 
of strong standing in the community have purchased stock and become influ- 
ential in the bank, .so that today it is still a very strong and influential 
banking institution. It still retains the confidence and support of the people, 
as is shown by the steady increase in deposits and enlargement in business. 
The present status of the i)ank, as shown by its sworn rei)ort to the state bank- 



198 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

ing department for September. 1910, shows resources of four hundred fifty-six 
thousand one hundred eighty-nine dollars and forty-one cents. This is 
indeed a very flattering showing for a city of the size of Mt. Pleasant, with 
another bank with equal resources, and is not only a good index for the 
bank, but is also a flattering index of the prosperity of the community. 

When the Dusenbury bank \\as first started it was located on the north 
side of Broadway street and when Dusenbury, Nelson & Company com- 
menced they located in the Nelson building on the west side of North Main 
street, four doors south of Broadway, where they remained until May 15, 
1909. They had, however, in the year 1908, purchased the lot on the north- 
east corner of block 18, it being at the corner where Broadway and Main 
streets intersect. It is one of the most central and conspicuous parts of 
the city and is a very convenient and conspicuous place for a bank. 

The bank people had for some time felt that they had outgrown the 
building they were in and, finding at last that this property could be pur- 
chased, they seized the opportunity and purchased it. They tore down a 
good brick structure and erected on the site a very fine cut stone structure, 
designed especially for Ijanking purposes. This building, after the outside 
structure was completed, was finished internally with offices, sitting and 
waiting rooms. Aault, timelock, 1>urglar alarm and all other appliances 
to make the work easily done and with dispatch. All in all. it is a very 
complete and up to date banking outfit and worthy the effort of the owners 
in their desire to possess a beautiful and commodious banking home. The 
cost of the lot was ten thousand dollars, and the new structure is estimated 
to be worth about fifteen thousand dollars, not including the furniture and 
fixtures, which cost about ten thousand dollars, making the whole outfit 
worth about twenty-five thousand dollars. 

All this is well worthy the effort and is now and will be appreciated 
l)y the generous public in increased business, as is shown by the addition of 
assets since last report of September, 1910, which amount has now grown 
to be substantially four hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars. 

The banking business of Brown, Harris & Company opened up on 
the iJth day of January, 1883, in a neat banking building on the northeast 
corner of the block where the Commercial Bank Ixulding now stands. Tlie 
company was composed of the following well-known persons : William N. 
Brown, Amelia S. K. 'Sla.y. M. Devereaux, JNlinnie K. Brown, Samuel W. 
Hopkins, Elizabeth G. Kellogg, D. H. Nelson, John C. Leaton, Harris 
Bros, and John W. Hance, Cash Groves was cashier for a time, then Mr. 
Devereaux for a month. John A. Harris after that was their cashier. 



ISABELLA COUXTV, Mil IIKIAX. I99 

Tliey did a thriving business for some j'ears. and then tlie Commercial Bank 
was chartered and took over the assets and l)usiness of Brown, Harris & 
Company. The Commercial was composed of Ami W. Wright, a capitalist 
of Alma, Michigan, with most of the parties forming the company of 
Brown, Harris & Company. Tlie capital stock was fifty thousand dollars, 
all paid in. so that the new l);uik started dli" witli a better e(|uipnK-iit than 
the old one possessed. It was organized in 1S85 and continued to do a 
thriving business for a long time and was considered one of the best in this 
part of the country. Some time after the establishment of the Commercial 
Bank, which was located in the Commercial Bank block, about April. 1888, 
John F. R\an. W'ilham X. Brown and other of the citizens here and some capi- 
talists and prominent men of Saginaw proposed the organizatit)n of a 
savings bank and, acting on the suggestion, a number of them proceeded 
to organize a bank to be known as the People's Savings Bank, with a capital 
stock of fifty thousand dollars. Some of the stockholders were the follow- 
ing: Minnie K. Brown. James S. Brown. Rev. J. A. Crowley. R. Kempf, 
Dr. F. H. Tyler. I. A. C. Tyler. M. Dcvereaux. J. F. l\\an and about twenty- 
five others, making it a strong bank. It took up its (|uarters in the Com- 
mercial Bank building, taking the offices and vaults in the basement of the said 
block. This bank was active in securing business and was able to loan a large 
amount of money on real estate securities. This it continued to do until 
Xovember. 1895. when some of those interested in the two lianks thought 
it would be better to consolidate the Commercial Bank and the People's 
Savings Bank under one organization. Notice was given to the stockhold- 
ers, a meeting was held and the two decided to join forces as one Ijank on 
tlie iith day of Decemlier. 1895. with a capital stock of one hundretl thou- 
sand dollars, divided into one thousand shares of one hundred di)llars each. 
The bank was duly organized and new stock was issued and exchanged for 
stock in the old concerns, share for share. This bank continued to do busi- 
ness until May, 1897. when it closed its doors and was wound up by a 
receiver. Their estimated assets at the time of closing were figured at 
one hundred forty-eight thousand four hundred four dollars and fifty-one 
cents. These were finally disposed of and the business clo.sed up. On Sep- 
tember 13. 1897. tlT'ee receivers were appointed by the court to wind up 
the concern. E. J. Van Leuven, W. F. Preston and L. E. Royal were the 
receivers, 'iiiev took possession and began the efYort to .settle the business 
with the creditors of the bank. December jo. 1897. \'an Leuven resigned 
and the other two continued until July 21, 1898. when they resigned and 
Charles T. Russell was appointed and filed his Ixand. taking possession July 



200 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

27, 1898. He finally closed by selling the assets to the highest bidder, finally 
paying sixty-six per cent, to creditors. 

Shepherd is one of the growing villages of the county and is located 
in the oldest settled part of the county. In December, 1894, feeling the 
necessity of a bank, several of the prominent business men organized the 
Commercial State Bank, with a capital stock of seventeen thousand dollars, 
divided into one hundred and seventy shares of one hundred dollars each, 
and the following persons became the purchasers of the stock : Isaac N. 
Shepherd, Thomas Hannett, 01i\'er H. Adams, W. E. Adams, ^^'. H. Kinter 
and L. D. Estee. It has been a strong and successful bank and has met the 
necessities of the locality to a good degree. It is conservative and safe, 
and can be relied upon as a reliable institution. 

This was the only bank in Shepherd for some time, but finally John 
F. Ryan, who was interested in the People's Savings Bank of Mt. Pleasant, 
started a private bank in Shepherd and opened it up in the back part of a 
brick store. It ran for a time, but finally closed. 

Rosebush, a thriving burg about seven miles north of Alt. Pleasant, 
in 1908 was looked upon by some of the Mt. Pleasant bankers, who started 
a private bank, composed of the following persons: J. S. W'eidman, A. Z. 
Campbell. F. L. Keeler, F. G. Thiers, E. J. Van Leuven and Floyd 
Mitchell. Homer Campbell is their cashier and is doing a fine business 
for them. It is called the Rosebush Banking Company. The proprietors 
visit the bank often and the people patronizing it may well feel safe and 
secure in their Inisiness relations with the bank. It is located in one of 
the rich farming districts of the Cdunt}-, the farmers l:)eing generall_\- well- 
to-do and thrifty. 

The village of Weidman, located toward the western part of the county 
and the scene of J. S. Weidman"s lumbering operations, also was in need 
of banking facilities. On August 3, 1908, the Weidman Banking Company 
was formed, composed of J. S. ^^'eidman, A. Z. Campbell, F. L. Keeler, 

F. G. Thiers, J. A. Daman. E. J. Van Leuven and Floyd Mitchell. This 
is a good combination and the company is doing a prosperous and safe 
business. They are a great accommodation to the western half of the county 
and deserve the patronage of that section. 

The Central State Savings Bank, located at Shepherd, was formed in 
April, 1910. and is composed of the following persons: J- L. Upton. J. H. 
Struble. M. B. Axtell. M. L. Faunce. W. C. Myres. K. E. Struble. A. 

G. Struble, J. Kratz. George A. Reese. E. S. McClellen, A. G. Andrews. W. 
Anderson. B. M. Adams, J. Allen, L. E. \\'etsel and A. R. Cole. Their capital 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 20I 

Stock is twenty thousand dollars, divided into two hundred shares of one hun- 
dred dollars each. This bank has made a good start and will undoubtedly add 
to their business, as they are composed of some of the best men in Shepherd 
and vicinity. 

The onl}- other bank organized in the county was the Farmers & Mer- 
chants' Bank of ]\It. Pleasant. This was a private copartnership with E. 
C. Vermillion as the manager. It had some very good men in its organiza- 
tion, but the manager failed to impress the people generally with his ability 
as a banker and, with the competition of two banks, with aliout half a mil- 
lion of business eacli, it was not a paying enterprise and the manager de- 
camped between two days and failed to be present on a Monday morning 
at the opening hour of tlie bank. As he was the only one in the county 
who knew the combination of the safe, the bank remained closed so far 
as business was concerned. The copartners are now settling up the busi- 
ness of the venture. 



CHAPTER XIV 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 



Surely a history of the county would not be complete without some ref- 
erence to the medical profession. They are an important factor in society 
and at times seem to be the most important of all. Whenever we are ailing, 
our thought runs out to the doctor and we begin to speculate as to what 
we may expect if we call one or what the outcome will be if we do not, 
and it usually ends in our calling upon the doctor of our choice and then 
make the liest we can out of the attempt to live. If we are strong and of 
a long-lived family, the chances are that we may pull through despite the 
medicine of the good physician and the microbes that are swarming around 
to assist the good doctor. Many a tussle have we had and so far have 
come off \-ictorious, but as we are in the rut and see no way out. we shall 
in all probability continue in our course and by and by we e.xpect that he 
will get the better of us and then our only hope will be in the good minister, 
to take charge of what is left of us. But the doctor we must have, say 
what vou will : he is on the ground and there to stay, so try and be prepared 
for whatever shall come and make tiie best of it. 

Wesley J. Corbus was the first physician to enter the then wilderness 
of Isabella count\-. He had prepared liimself for his profession by reading 
some four years with Doctor Chauncey at Girard Center, Branch county, 
Michigan. He commenced his practice at Warsaw, Ind., was there about 
three years, when he returned to Michigan and opened an office at Union 
City, Branch county, remained there for several years and then went to 
Tekonsha, Michigan, where he remained until April, 1863, when he bought 
three hundred and twenty acres of land on section 13, in Lincoln, Isabella 
county, and settled upon the same, made himself a home, which was no 
light task, as it was heavily timbered by mostly hard wood timber. He 
cleared about sixty acres and gave the most of the rest to his children. 
He entered upon the practice of medicine just as soon as he was settled 
in the county and continued his practice as long as he remained in the county. 
He was a good practitioner and very successful, for he was not only a good 
doctor, but he was a natural nurse, and it almost seems that this (|ualihcation 



ISABELLA COLNTV, Mil IIIC.AN. 2O3 

was equal to his knowledge and use of drugs. The iloclor was also some- 
thing of a dentist, as we remember of seeing liini operate on a poor fellow 
suffering with the jumping toothache one iiol day in June. 1(863. The man 
was on a survey of a highway numing in front of the doctor's house, his 
tooth got iuimanageal)Ic and the doctor tackled it with a pair of common 
forceps. With these he made h\e attempts to remove the brute, but each 
time tlie critter slipped oft and it seemed {<> liccome scrinus. The doctor 
in the goochiess of his heart went into tiie house and, not i)eing in a dr\- 
county, ifrouglit out a tumbler full of wliisky and told the fellow to swallow 
that, and while he was imbil)ing the licpior the doctor was tying a couple 
of linen handkerchiefs around a singular looking instrument he called a 
turnkey, but which looked to me more like a swi\el and cant hook combined. 
Anvway, when he at last saw that the fellow had (lisi)osed of his whisky, 
he hitched u])i>n that stubborn tooth. an<l hiii\- Moses, there was troulilc. 
i)ut the doctor came out victorious, and we never heard from that particular 
tooth afterward. The doctor settled in Mt. Pleasant in 1875 and here con- 
tinued his profession with marked success. In 1878 he went to Cincinnati 
and took a course of study in the Electric Medical Institute, under the cele- 
brated Doctor Sciidder. He was graduated there in 1879. lie remained 
in practice until 1886, when he sold out and moNctl West. 

Dr. Delos P.raman was another of the early ph}-sicians to k)c:ite in the 
county. He was liorn in Schenectady comity. Xew York, about 1830, at 
Braman's Corners. His father, Joseph ijraman, was also a physician before 
him. Delos was a graduate of L'nion College and also a graduate of the 
medical college at Albany, Xew ^'ork. After graduating he practiced for 
a time with iiis father at Braman's Corners and then took a post-graduate 
course, after which, in 1856, he went to Kilbomn City, Wisconsin, and took 
up the ]5ractice at that i^lace and followed it imtil i86j, when he crossed 
the plains to Humboldt. Xevada. where he practiced and prospected for four 
years. Returning East, he settled in Mt. Pleasant in 1866 and took up the 
practice of medicine and continued the same imtil 1872. when he remo\-ed 
to the western part of the state for a time and then returned to his old home 
at iiraman's Corners, where lie still resides. I'.ramau was a tirst-class physi- 
cian. Careful and sym])athetic toward his patients, he naturally won the con- 
fidence of his patrons and he was affable to a large degree, so that all were 
drawn toward him. 

Very soon after Braman, there came .1 Doctor Moll, who remained for 
a short time and then departed We have but little knowledge of him except 
that he practiced for a time here in Mt. Pleasant. 



204 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Then about 1868-9 Dr. Seth T. W'orden moved here from northwestern 
Ohio, and went into practice and. with his son-in-law, Gavitt, built a drug 
store on the north side of Broadway. They remained until 1871, when 
they sold the drug store and soon removed back to Ohio. While here the 
doctor did some j^ractice. He was a fair physician and a genial gentleman. 

In 1873 Dr. M. F. Fasquelle, a graduate of Michigan University, a 
son of tlie well-kni)wn professor of modern languages in the Uni\-ersity of 
Michigan, Louis J. Fasquelle, and a publisher of French text-books and 
other publications, located at ]\It. Pleasant and commenced the practice of 
medicine. He built up a good practice and retained it to the end. He was 
a genial gentleman as well as a good practitioner. He was of the regular 
school of physicians. He continued to practice up to August 4. 1894, 
when he died. 

Dr. Peter E. Richmond was another of the stanch members of the 
profession who located here in 1883, fresh from McGill University, and 
remained in active practice until the summer of 1910, when he was suddenly 
stricken down while in Saginaw. He was also one of the happy, genial 
members of Mt. Pleasant society. He was punctual in his business and a 
successful practitioner, and well deserved the high reputation he bore in 
this community. He will be missed by all who knew him. 

About 1883 Dr. L. C. Payne settled in the county and commenced the 
practice of medicine. The record indicates that he is of the regular school. 
He located first at Nottaway. then Beal City, remained there for some time 
and then removed to INIt. Pleasant, and after practicing tliere for a time 
removed to Weidman, where he now is, and is having a good practice. 

Dr. Allen Keene, a graduate of Bellevue* Medical College, located at 
Winn, Isabella county, aboijt May i, 1878, and entered upon the active 
practice of his profession. He remained at Winn for a long time and 
enjoyed a lucrative practice. About ten years ago he moved to ]\It. Pleasant, 
where he continued his practice and is still in the harness. The doctor is a 
whole-souled gentleman and enjoys, and justly so, the confidence and re- 
spect of all who know him. He has been a successful practitioner and has 
made many a heart glad in his rounds of duty, never shrinking on account 
of bad roads or inclement weather. Long may he live to enjoy the fruits 
of his untiring labors. 

Dr. M. H. Hillyard is another of tiie old-timers whi> came to tlie county 
when it was new and but thinly settled, and put out his sign in Dushville. 
He was another of those noble representatives of the medical profession 
who was always at his post of duty. He was a graduate of the Penn 
Medical College. He was an eclectic, and settled here about 1876. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 20^ 

Dr. Loren A. Houghton, a graduate of the University of Michigan 
Medical College in 1872, old school, located at Blanciiard very soon after 
his graduation and entered upon the active practice of his calling. He re- 
mained in the discharge of his duties as such practitioner until the time of 
his death, whicli was about March, 1908. He was a good physician, very 
successful in liis jiractice. and was mucli sought for in all intricate cases 
wliere it re(|uired not only great knowledge hut good judgment and skill. 

Jason M. Casjier. one of the earlv physicians to settle in Isabella and 
at l.iionns, went there in 1875 and commenced the practice in that place 
and vicinity. lie was an excellent physician and very soon was possessed 
of a splendid practice. He was a scliolar and tiiorougiily versed in his pro- 
fession. He continued there until his death, vvliicli overtook him on June 
21. 1882. He was a graduate of the University of Micliigan and his 
deatii was a lianl blow to liis friends and accpiaintances. 

Dr. Celia W. Tavlor was another of the early doctors to settle at 
Loomis, She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1880 and 
settled in Loomis about 1882 and entered upon the practice of her pro- 
fession. Siie was a successful practitioner, and verv much liked l)v the 
people generally. l)ut Loomis was too small a place for her talent and after 
a successful stay of about eleven years she removed from there to Saginaw. 

Dr. F. H. Spencer settled at Loomis about 1884. He was a graduate 
from College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago, in March. 1883. and 
immediately settled in Loomis. He was a bright fellow, and soon estab- 
lished a good pra-ctice, but seeing better things at Cdadwin, he moved to that 
place after being in Loomis about one vear. 

b'rank ii. Tyler was a homeopathic practitioner who settled at Ml. 
Pleasant about 1881. He was a graduate of the University of Michigan 
in July, 1880. He practiced for some time at ;\lt. Pleasant with marked 
success. He was a genial fellow and was much sought after by the Ml. 
Pleasant society. After remaining there for several years, be moved to 
Kalamazoo where he is still in practice and with the same success that at- 
tended his efforts at Mt. Pleasant. 

James H. Hudson was a graduate from the medical department of the 
L'niversity of Michigan June 23, 1883, and settled at Shepherd, Isabella 
comity. Michigan, immediately thereafter. He was a bright fellow and soon 
built up a good practice. He remained in that community for some years 
and llien moved away. 

Dr. J. L. Petz was a graduate from the Philadelphia L^niversity in Feb- 
ruary. 1879. and settled in Mt. Pleasant in 1883. He was a physician of 



206 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

no mean proportions. He practiced here for a time with good success, but 
the town seemed too small for him and after three or four years of a resi- 
dence and practice he moved awa}-. 

Frank M. Gross was a doctor from Pennsyhania who settled for a 
time in the village of Loomis. He went there about 1884 and remained 
some four or five years and then moved back to Pennsylvania. He was a 
graduate from the Eclectic Medical University of Cincinnati. Ohio. He 
was a good physician, a hearty, jolly good fellow, enjoyed all that there 
was good in life and made everybody happy arounfl him. He was very 
much missed when he took his departure. 

Dr. T. Cook Royal w-as a graduate from the Xew York Homeopathic 
College, in March. 1883. and very soon thereafter settled in ^It. Pleasant, 
where he followed his profession for some time with marked success ; was 
there about five years and then moved to Ballston Springs. New York. He 
was a bright fellow and had in him the making of a good physician. His 
work here was highly appreciated and he was very much thought of. 

About 1876 Jesse J. Struble located at Salt River and commenced the 
practice of medicine. The record does not show that he was a graduate of 
any school of medicine. He was accounted a good physician and enjoyed 
a good practice while he followed the profession. The record of 1883 
shows that at that time he had been in practice over sixteen years. He died 

In March, 1876, Allen J. Struble graduated at the Ohio Medical Col- 
lege in Cincinnati. Ohio, as a regular physician and soon came to Salt 
River and entered upon the practice of his profession. He was a bright 
and natural physician. He enjoyed a fine practice during all the time that 
he was in the practice, which w-as up to the time of his death, which occurred 
December 18. 1893. 

Dr. John B. Lavery is an eclectic and has been in practice for about 
thirty-five years. He came to Isabella about November 29. 1883, and settled 
in Lincoln. He is now located in Mt. Pleasant. He is a quaint and peculiar 
personage, and follows largely a peculiar line of practice. He is especially 
notable for his success in treating chronic and peculiar cases, many of them 
cases that other physicians have abandoned or pronounced incurable, and 
with such he has had wonderful success at times. 

Dr. J. J. Stoner was a student at the Hahnemann Medical Institute in 
Chicago, w'here he graduated in 1880. He either came to Mt. Pleasant 
soon after or lived here when he graduated. He was a homeopathist and 
practiced here with fair success for some time and then moved West. 

Dr. ^^'arren A. Sayers was a graduate of Jefferson Medical College, 



ISAUKl-I.A COUNTV, MICHIGAN. 20J 

takiiijj liis degree June 30, 1874. He belonged to the regular sciiool of 
physicians. He settled at Shepherd about j8(S4 and remained for some 
time. He enjoyed tlie confidence of the people, who ga\e him a tine prac- 
tice. He is a very studious man and keeps abreast of the times, going often 
to the colleges for a short term to brush up and accpiire anything new in 
the line of his practice. He was for a time located in Mt. T'leasant and 
then returned to Shepherd, where he now is in the acti\e i)ractice of his 
profession, and enjoying the confidence of his neighbors which he has .so 
justly earned. 

I)r, James McEntec is a graduate of the Detroit Medical College, tak- 
ing his degree March 4, 1885. He soon thereafter commenced tlie practice 
of medicine in Mt. Pleasant and has been in active practice e\er since. The 
doctor is a good scholar and stands well among his lirethren. He has also in 
later years made a specialty of the e_\e and ear. He is considered among 
the best of the physicians and enjoys a fine practice in this and adjoining 
communities. He is still in the harness and is good for some time to come. 

\'armen H. W'orden claimed in 1885 to have graduated by practice, and 
claimed to be a honieopathist of ten years" practice. He was a ro\ ing in- 
dividual and had a faculty of drawing people to him. He was at Rlanchard. 
also at Brinton. and several persons have claimed to be students of his or 
practicing under his tutorage. He came to the county about 1885 and was 
here for some time and then sought a more congenial climate and did not 
return. His practice was, h'ke his person, very much varied. 

Dr. J. E. (iruber, of Shepherd, was graduated at Fort Wayne, Indiana, 
about 1874 and filed his certificate at Mt. Pleasant Augu.st 23, 1886. He is 
of the regular school and has enjoyed a lucrati\e practice e\er since he 
commenced. He is one of the standbys at Shepherd. He is judicious and 
careful, not dis])osed to take unnecessary chances. He has the confidence 
and respect of the community, and his ability, integrity and conduct in the 
community justly entitles him to the same. He has l)een a successful prac- 
titioner and seeks to keep abreast of the times. 

Dr. .A. T. (ietchell is a prominent practitioner since March. 1884. He 
is of the regular school and a graduate of the I'niversity of Michigan. Fie 
has enjoyed a lucrative ])ractice since his first settlement in tjiis community. 
He is counted one of our foremost practitioners, and his reputation for skill 
has continually grown and is still growing in the commnnit\'. 

Dr. [. v.. Shaw was a graduate from Toronto. Ontario, and came to 
Rosebush and took his brother's place for a time and then returned. He 
was coinited a good ])hysician. 



208 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Dr. B. C. Shaw, a brother of the above, located at Rosebush and com- 
menced the practice of medicine and after following the practice for a while he 
suspended for a time to attend lectures at a medical school, returning, filed 
his certificate June 22, 1898. He is of the regular school and is enjoying a 
splendid practice at the present time. He is very much thought of at and 
around Rosebush, where he has operated for a long time. 

S. F. Fry, of Brinton, made his certificate on December 21, 1891, that 
he had practiced the profession for fourteen years. He did not claim to 
be a graduate from any reputable college of medicine. He has done some- 
thing toward relieving the distressed in liis town and neighborhood. He is 
a kind gentleman and has done as well as he can. 

Dr. Charles D. Pullen is a graduate of the Michigan University and 
has also made a specialty of the ear, nose and throat. He took his degree 
as a homeopath physician on the 30th day of June. 1892, settled in Mt. 
Pleasant, commenced the practice of his profession and has continued the 
same from that time continuously, saving an occasional vacation in taking 
post-graduate work. He has had very fine success in his work and now 
stands as one of the leaders in the profession in this part of the county. 
He is kind, affable, patriotic and liberal. His work has given good satis- 
faction and he has a host of friends as the result of his success. He is a 
good citizen as well as a good physician. 

Dr. C. S. Park was a graduate of the Detroit Medical College and 
belonged to the regular school of physicians. He came to Mt. Pleasant 
about January i. 1894, and entered upon his practice here. He was classed 
among the best and was also considered a \ery fine surgeon. He made 
good progress in his work and made many friends in the community. He 
died very suddenly, which terminated the labors of a bright man and a 
talented physician. 

Dr. W. R. \\'eagart, a graduate of the Physio-Medical College of Chi- 
cago, received his certificate May 18, 1883. He came to Loomis county 
about 1902, remained there for a short time, then went aw-ay, but returned 
again and re-entered the practice, but for some reason was not content and 
moved away from the county. 

Dr. Arthur E. Sweatland settled in Shepherd aljout April. 1895, and 
entered the practice of medicine. He was a graduate of Bellevue Medical 
College. New York. March 25. 1895. He was a man of considerable ability 
and built up a good practice. He stayed only a few years and sold out and 
moved away. 

Dr. Frank Taylor came to Shepherd al:)out 1901 and build up (|uite a 
practice, but soon got dissatisfied and sold out and went west. 



ISABELLA COUNTV. MKlllCAX. 2O9 

Dr. diaries E. Goodwin boiiglit out Doctor Taylor and entered upon 
the practice in 1905. He was a good plivsician and a si)!endid man. He 
huilt up a fine business and was well thought of by all. lie continued the 
])ractice until he died in 1910. 

Dr. C. r. Graves was another physician to enter the practice of medicine 
in Shephenl. He came about 1902 and remained about one year, when 
his talent was learned by the United States naval authorities and he was 
tendered and accepted a position as surgeim in the navy, where he now is. 
He was .said to be e.xtreniely briglit and well deserving of the position he 
obtained. 

Doctor King was another of the bright men that practiced medicine at 
Shepherd. He came about the year 1900 and remained in the active prac- 
tice for .some time with eminent success. He remained until about 1906. 
when he concluded to enter a more extended field and also decided to make 
a specialty of nervous diseases, so pulled up and moved to Detroit where he 
is now located and doing a fine business. 

.\my .\. Holcomb first studied at Owosso and Chicago and then in 1894 
filed her certificate and practiced under the supervision of Doctor Pulien. 
She afterward took further lectures at the Hahnemann .Medical College of 
Chicago and graduated there March 28. 1895. She has been in active prac- 
tice in Mt. Pleasant for a number of years with marked success. She is 
active, attentive to her profession and has l)een credited with a number of 
pronounced successes. She is a good general practitioner and commands 
the respect of her accpiaintances. 

Dr. Benjamin F. P. Johnson is a graduate of Detroit Medical College, 
taking his degree May 3. 1895. He located at Rosebush and has enjoved 
a lucrative practice there. Pie is well qualifie<I to fill the place, is well liked 
and is successful in his work. He has a host of friends and well deserves 
them. 

Lyman W. Soper. who claimed to have graduated from a medical college 
in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1890. practiced for a time at Sherman Citv and was 
for a short time in Mt. Pleasant and then departed. 

Dr. Charles T. Soper graduated at Cincinnati. Ohio, in b'ebruary. 1890. 
and in 1894 located at Sherman City, where he enjoyed an extensive practice 
up to the time he moved to Barryton. Mecosta count)-. He was a l)right 
fellow and was generally liked. 

Dr. L. J. Burch was graduated at the Detroit Medical College .\pril 13. 
189^). and .soon thereafter o|)ened an office in this county and entered upon 
the practice of medicine. He continued here for some time and then went 
(14) 



2IO ISABELLA COUXTY, MICHIGAN. 

to Gladwin and practiced for some time there, when lie again returned to 
Alt. Pleasant where he is now engaged in the practice of his profession. He 
has made quite a success, but moving away lost him his patronage which he 
had built up and now he has to recover that. He is a genial fellow anfl will 
soon reco\-er what he lost. He is attentive to his business and is bound to 
succeed. 

Charles AI. Baskerville is also a graduate from the Detroit College of 
Aledicine. taking his degree May 5, 1897. .Ume i-- i897- he filed his cer- 
tificate in Isabella county and has been in the practice ever since. He too 
has made good and is now enjoying a good practice and winning favor as 
well as business in his profession. 

Alehin E. De Groat was a graduate of the Detroit College of Medicine, 
receiving his degree March 23, 1897, and on June 28. 1897. filed his certificate 
in Isabella county and commenced the practice of medicine at Weidman. 
He remained there for a time and then moved to the western country. 

J. Phil Young was graduated from Keokuk, Iowa. February 14, 1878, 
came to Salt River and entered into the practice of medicine. He remained 
there for some time, making a success of his practice, but finally moved to 
Blanchard where he remained for some time. He afterward practiced in 
Alontcalm county, and finally moved to California, where he died some four 
or five years ago. He was n good practitioner and was generally liked l)y all 
who knew him. 

Dr. S. E. Gardner was graduated from Jefiferson Medical College, Phila- 
delphia. Alay 2. 1893. ^^^'^ fi'^'^' ''■'s certificate in Isabella county January 7, 
1899. and has been in the active practice of his profession ever since. He 
is a \ery particular and precise gentleman, has built up a fine practice, is 
counted one of the leaders in the profession, has and does keep abreast of the 
times. He makes a specialty of the eye, ear, nose and throat and has deliv- 
ered several talks on the construction of the eye. He is a man of few words 
and has a faculty of expressing himself in such a way tliat any one can under- 
stand him. He is bound to make his mark in the world. He has advanced 
thought on scientific matters and has no prejudices as to new ideas, but is 
ready to investigate and decide for himself after a full examination of the 
subject. He has built up a good and lucrative practice. enjo}s life and is 
willing that others should also. He is United States pension examiner and 
secretary of the board. 

Dr. J. Franklin Adams came to Mt. Pleasant about April 19. 1899. and 
commenced the practice of medicine. He was a graduate of the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago in .\pril. 1893. He has been in the 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN'. _> I I 

active ])ractice from the time lie entered tlie practice and has given splendid 
satisfaction. lie is one of the busiest of the profession and has been for a 
long time, lie is wedded to his profession and is affal)le and kind hearted and 
very sym]3athetic with his patients. He has all that lie can do and only seeks 
a vacation when he needs rest. He has a host of friends and is just the right 
kind of a person to hold them. 

Sam 11. W'etly was a graduate frcmi the Detroit Medical College. He 
graduated March 3, 1896, and came to Tsal)ella county in 1899. He com- 
menced business at Beal City where he continued w ith good success for some 
time and then removed to Rlanchard. where he has ])racticed with good suc- 
cess. He is a person of good ability and genial in his practice. 

Xortnn D. Coons was a graduate from the University of Michigan and 
was a resident of ]\It. Pleasant when he entered college. Howe\er. lie unly 
remained here a short time after his graduation, which was June 13. 1898. 
He then went west and is haxing good success as a practitioner in the west- 
ern country. 

\\'. ^^'. Kerr, a graduate of the Medical School df I.ouis\-ille. Kentucky, 
came to Shepherd in 1895. having graduale<l in June of that year. He was 
at Shei)herd only a short time and then moved away. 

Dr. G. S. Foden is another of the late comers at Shepherd. He filed his 
certificate about June. 19 10. He has been in the county so short a time that 
he has not as yet established what he can do. He is counted as a well-lired 
phvsician and. given time, will undnubtedly establish a good and successful 
practice. 

Back in 1900 Mr. and Mrs. Spooner located in Shepherd and started out 
in the practice of medicine. He liought out Doctor King on his deciding to 
go to Detroit. They undertook to continue King's i)ractice. but circumstances 
were such that they did not succeed and after remaining there alxiut a year 
they decided to seek other pastures and mo\e<l away. 

Dr. Jnlni Ciruber is the son of Dr. J. E. druber. of Shepherd. The 
young man graduated in May. 1902. and then returned to Shepherd and ])rac- 
tice<l with his father for a time and then went north and .settled in Mesick. 
where he is now enjoying a fine practice and. what is better, he is well liked 
by the citizens of that thriving village. 

There was a Mat Kelly, a graduate in June J\. igoj. who settled at 
Winn. He was there but a short time and then nrnved away. 

William B. Richmond, a Mt. Pleasant boy. graduated as a physician on 
October 20. \go2. and returned to Mt. Pleasant where he remained but a 



212 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

sliort time and then went sonth and is now engaged in the practice of his 
profession witli a good measure of success. 

Otto F. Bertram came to Beal City in Septemlier, 1903, Iiaving gradu- 
ated in March of that year. He remained in the practice there Init a Hmited 
time and then changed his location. 

\\'i]liam G. Young, having graduated May 14, 1903, settled in \\'eidman 
in December of tiiat year. He, too, remained at his post for a limited time and 
then changed his location. 

J. H. Switzer was also a graduate in April, 1903, and in July, 1905, tiled 
certificate in Isabella countv, and located at Leaton, where he remained for 
a time in the practice of iiis profession. He was unfortunate in having 
trouble with his family, which resulted in his death. 

Dr. D. H. McRae graduated May 29, 1905, and settled at Rosebush in 
August of that year and took up his practice. He remained there for a time 
and then changed to Beal City, where he now is and is enjoying a wide and 
lucrative practice. He is a good physician and receives a good word from 
all who know or have cause to employ him. 

Dr. B. C. Shaw was located at Rosebush in 1900 and remained for a 
time in the practice of his profession and then retired. 

Dr. M. Sweeny commenced his practice in this county at Weidman in 
1901 and continued it for a time in that place and afterward he was for a 
time located at Mt. Pleasant and then moved to Rosebush, wdiere he divides 
his time between the practice of medicine and his drug store. He is a gradu- 
ate, having received his degree in January, 1900. He is doing a fairly good 
business and has made a good many friends. 

Charles R. ^^'. Southwick graduated ]\Iay 4, 1905, and filed his certificate 
May 6th of the same year and opened up an otifice at Weidman where he 
practiced for about three years and then removed to the southern part of the 
state. He did not remain long enough to establish liimself firmly in the busi- 
ness. He has tlie requisite talent to make a good piiysician. 

Dr. M. S. Gregory came to Mt. Pleasant from Traverse City in October, 
1906, and remained but a short time, when he returned to his former home. 
He was a bright and scholarly gentleman and a good physician, but did not 
see his way clear to remain here. 

Dr. C. J. Powers is a comparatively late arrival in Winn. He graduated 
June 28, 1907, and came to Isabella and filed his certificate and commenced 
the practice October 15, 1910, so that lie has not been here long enough to 
have established a soHd reputation. So far as we can learn, he is a gentleman 
of good appearance and has the qualification to make good. 



ISAHKI.I.A lOlNTV. .MICHIGAN. 21^ 

Dr. C. H. Lavar. of Leaton. is a new coiner who has not heen here long 
enougli so that we can know very nuicli about him. It will be up to him to 
make good. He has a goo*! field to work in and there is no reason why he 
should not do well. 

Dr. K. F. Rondet graduated June 17. 1907, and filed his certificate 
January 31. 1907. and he commenced his practice at Beal City. He remained 
there for a time doing a fair Inisiness. Iiut, not being satisfied, moved away. 

Dr. C. J. Ettinger graduated June 22, 1908. and .settled at Winn in 
Novemlier of that year and commenced the practice of his profession. He 
remained tiicre for two or three years and then decided to retiuMi to .\nn 
Arbor. He was a good scholar and a bright practitioner. Init the location 
was not entirely to his ta.ste and he sought a change. While he was in Winn 
he made many friends and some money and built up con.siderable of a business. 

-A. C. lleubner was graduated January 26. 1900, and filed his certificate 
in Isabella county Seiitember 4tli of the same \ear. lie settled fnr a time 
at r>lanclrn-(l. practicing his profession and then nioxed away. With what 
success he met. we are not informed. 

Dr. John F. Taber filed his certificate of graduation in Isabella countv 
on January 22. 1900. and settled at Leaton. where he was in the practice for 
a year or more. He was a man of some ability, but just how much he might 
have accom!)lislied if he had remained we cannot tell. He made friends 
while there, but for some reason he decided not to remain and moved aw'ay. 

Dr. J. L. Brubaker was graduated from the W'ashington University 
June 30. 1S74. and established himself in Lsabella county in 1885. at Winn, 
and practiced there for a number of years with good success. He was a man 
of good ability and presence, and made man\- friends in his practice and the 
neighborhood and he was missed when be went away. He removed to 
Altoona. Pennsylvania, and is there now. 

Doctor Maynard is entitled to notice in this history from the fact that 
he was one i)f the first men to practice in the north part of the county. He 
first went onto a new farm in the now township of \'ernon in about the year 
1867. and l)etween clearing up a new piece of land, "keeping bach" and re- 
lieving the distress of the people in sickness you would say that he was one 
of God's noblemen. He is withal a mo.st genial gentleman and a good phy- 
sician. .\fter following this life for a time he moved to the city of Clare 
where he now resides an honored and resjjected citizen. 

There was a Dr. L. 11. Dickerson located at Shepherd about 1907. but 
the ])eople do not seem to know anything about him. 

Dr. S. C. Bi'own was located at Sbei>bord and afterward at .\it. i'leasant 



214 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

He started in Shepherd or old Salt River about 1869 and entered upon the 
practice of medicine : he did not claim to be a graduate from any particular 
school, but he was a man of exceptional ability and soon after he commenced 
at Salt Ri\"er he built up a good practice and was well liked. He was for a 
time in partnership with Dr. Jesse J. Struble. Brown remained in the prac- 
tice until about 1878, at which time he commenced the publication of the 
Nortlm.'cstcrn Tribune at Salt River, continued that for a couple of years and 
then moved to Mt. Pleasant with his paper. 

The physicians and surgeons ni)w in jiractice in the county are as follows: 

Mt. Pleasant— Dr. J. F. Adams, Dr. C. M. Baskerville, Dr. L. J. Burch. 
Dr. S. E. Gardiner, Dr. A. T. Getchell, Dr. Amanda Decker Holcomb. Dr. 
A. Keene, Dr. J. D. Lavery, Dr. James McEntee, Dr. C. D. Pullen. 

At Shepherd— Dr. H. V. Abl)ott, Dr. J. E. Gruber, Dr. \\\ A. Sayers, 
Dr. G. S. Foden and Dr. H. H. Ennis. 

At Winn— Dr. C. J. Abbott and Dr. C. J. Powers. 

At Blanchard— Dr. Sam. H. ^^'atly. 

At Leaton — Dr. C. H. Lavar. 

.\t Beal City— Dr. D. H. McRae. 

At Weidman — Dr. L. C. Payne. 

-At Sherman City — Dr. E. S. Rondot. 

At Rosebush— Dr. B. F. P. Johnson, Dr. B. C. Shaw, and Dr. M. 
Sweeny. 

There were also the Chase brothers who settled in 1871 in Salt Ri\-er 
and practiced for some time with success, but were not satisfied with the 
future outlook and they moved away. 

At Isabella City in 1871, Dr. D. B. Allen located for a Ijrief period when 
he too moved to some other place. 

DENTISTRY. 

Dentistry has become one of the important professions and is receiving 
the amount of care and supervision that it merits by the state and also the 
profession. 

One of the \er)' first to enter the profession in Mt. Pleasant was Dr. G. 
A. Goodsell. He was the son of one of the first settlers under the home- 
stead act and he settled on section 28 in Union township. 

The Doctor commenced the practice of dentistry September 18, 1879, 
and continued in the practice imtil he died. He was a very humane and 
tender hearted person and sympathized w ith his patrons. He was successful 



ISABELLA COUNTV, MICHIGAN. 2I5 

in his practice and had, as lie descr\ed, tlie confidence and respect of all who 
knew him. He died Jniie 23, 1899. 

Dr. G. F. Richardson is also one of tlie old liniers in the profession. 
He studied dentistry some years hefore he came here and practiced for 
several years and then came to Isabella county and to Mt. Pleasant, arriving 
here in August, 1884, and opened an office for business and very soon had 
his share of the patronage. He has continued and still is in the active prac- 
tice of his profession every da\' e.\cei)l during the trout season and during 
that time if you wish to see the Doctor all you have to do is to hunt up the 
best trout stream in the state and you will rmd him offering the finest de- 
ceptive bait that a trout ever jumped after. The Doctor is a good ilentisl. 
is genial and desirous of relieving his patients from pain and give them a 
[jerfect job. He is doing a good business and deserves what he gets. 

Dr. C. O. Sheline is one of our later arrivals. He studied for some 
time with Doctor Richardson and then after getting his diploma, in January. 
1901, he commenced the practice with Doctor Richardson and is still in 
business at the old stand. He is a genial young man, wedded to his pro- 
fession, and is doing a nice business, giving good satisfaction and is bound 
to make good. He is a studious fellow and will surely keep abreast of the 
time. 

Dr. Charles Soutbwick graihiatcd froiii llie ilentistrx' dei)artment t^f the 
University of Michigan in June. 1895, and located at Mt. Pleasant July 20. 
1895, and has been here continuously from that time to the present. He is 
having a run of patronage and is giving satisfaction to his customers. He 
will always keep u]) with the advanced ideas of his ])rofession. He attends 
strictly to business and merits the conlidence and trust imposed in him by his 
patrons. 

Dr. Fred \'andercook is a graduate from the University of Michigan, 
receiving his diploma in 1900. and soon thereafter, in September, 1900. set- 
tled in Mt. Pleasant and commenced the practice of his profession. He has 
since that time been in active practice and has been reasonably successful and 
merits the success he has attained. He is a very generous fellow- and desires 
to ])lease his patrons and so far has given good results. He is a growing. 
l)rogressive person and will keep abreast of the best there is in the profes- 
sion. He is sure to retain the good position he has accpiired among his 
brethren. 

Dr. Fred H. Swartz was born in Isabella county and was raisetl and 
attended school in the county. He finally took up the profession of dentistry. 
He graduated at Indianapolis, Indiana, and afterward came to Mt. Pleasant 
and practiced for a time and also practiced some time in Montcalm county. 



2l6 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

then came to !Mt. Pleasant and after a time mo\ed to Gladwin, returned 
again to Mt. Pleasant and soon thereafter died very suddenly. He also took 
a post-graduate course at Detroit, Michigan. He should have been well 
equipped for the business. He seemed to have an unsettled mind as to 
location and did not remain long enough here to acquire a steady practice. 

There was a Dr. J. B. Van Fossen here some years ago who remained 
for about a year and then moved to Ypsilanti where he acquired some repu- 
tation in city afYairs. We haven't the exact date of his arrival or departure. 
He was a man of more than ordinary ability. His mind finally became un- 
settled and he passed out at his own suggestion. 

.\bout twenty years ago Doctor Sangster located here for a short time, 
but, not being satisfied with the outlook, he moved away. 

Dr. W. F. McDonald is a graduate of the dental department of Univer- 
sity of Michigan, having received his diploma in 1905. He settled in Mt. 
Pleasant in 1906 and has followed his profession since that time. He is 
well qualified and has built up a good practice which he holds and properly 
so, as he is counted a good dentist. He is pleasant and afifable to his patrons, 
is always agreeable and has a good word for all. 

Doctor Robinson came and located in Mt. Pleasant about 1902 and re- 
mained until about 1906 when he mo\-ed out of the county. He was a good 
dentist and enjoyed a good practice. He made many friends and fairly 
deserved all that he had as he was pleasant and afifable as well as a good 
practitioner. Robinson sold his business to Doctor Wismer, from Midland, 
who located in Mt. Pleasant for a time and then he too left the county. 

VETERINARIANS. 

The firm of Walkington & Consaul are both veterinarians and both 
graduated from the Toronto School, Ontario. Joim J. ^Valkington grad- 
uated in 1888 and located in Mt. Pleasant in 1905 and has been in active 
business ever since that time. He is well qualified for the business and is 
making a marked success of it. He is reliable and responsible and active in 
business. He has made many friends on account of his promptness and abil- 
ity. Dr. Consaul is also active and punctual in his profession and is counted 
thoroughly competent in the practice. They make a grand team together and 
always pull straight. 

Dr. F. J. Enimer, residing at Shepherd, is another veterinarian and is a 
graduate of the same college at Toronto, Ontario. He commenced the 
practice of his profession at Sliepherd in 1909 and is doing a fair business 
for the time he has been located there, and it is a good field for the business 
and lie will be to blame if he doesn't make good. 



Cii.\i'ri-;K w. 



CHlUCIl MISTOKV. 



The cluircli history of Isabella county dates hack to pretty near the first 
settlements. The first church was built on the southwest (|uarter of section 
4. in township 14 north, range 4 west, Michigan. It was built in the year 
i860, by I. E. Arnold, for the benefit of the Indians. This one burned down 
in June, 1861. It was afterward rebuilt and for some time it was used not 
only for church purposes, but was used for a mission school for the Indians. 
In the same summer of 1861 said .\rnold superintended the building of 
another church at Xe-be-sing. which is still standing. These churches were 
built out of funds realized iron^ the sale of Indian mission lands in other 
reservations and were erected solely for the benefit of the Indians. The 
Indians were largely under the supervision of the Methodist Episcopal 
church in the early days of their settlement in this county, and these churches 
were of that persuasion. Our old friend, Rev. George Bradley, was in these 
days the leading spirit among the Indians here. 

In 1864 two lots were donated by the Mortons to the Methodist Episco- 
pal people of this then village of Mt. Pleasant, on which to erect a church 
edifice. Elder Bradley chose lots i and 2 of block 7. Mt. Pleasant. \'ery 
soon after the donation and selection, those interested commenced to gather 
material for the erection of a church building and in the year 1865 they 
erected a fair sized and commodious l)uilding which answered their purposes 
for several years. This building was dedicated on August 18, 1866. by Rev. 
Joslyn. president of Albion College, assisted by Rev. F. B. Bango, presiding 
elder of Lansing district. Sul)se(iuently they purchased the lots where the 
Methodist Episcopal church edifice is now located and soon thereafter com- 
menced the erection of the present beautiful and commodious church Iniild- 
ing. Their first church was duly dedicated, the Rev. George B. Joslyn 
lireaching the dedicatory sermon. The church has been well sustained ever 
since its organization and is now the largest church in the county, .save the 
Catholics. 

Their first bell was the gift of John R. Buchtel. of .\kron, Ohio. It 
was a munificent gift and has been a faithful monitor for the people <>f Mt. 



2l8 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

I'leasant for tlie past forty-five years in reminding tliem each Sabbath morn- 
ing of the duty they owe their Creator. 

The history of the Methodist Episcopal society of Alt. Pleasant dates 
back to about January 23, 1863, when the record says that Horace Hall, of 
the Lansing district, being its presiding elder, organized a church known 
as the First Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Mt. Pleasant. 
Five trustees were appointed : Milton Bradley, Edwin Burt, Henry Gulick, 
George Bradley and Andrew J. Goodsell. 

The first Sunday school was organized in 1865 in the old log building 
belonging to John Kinney and was a union school, as those interested be- 
longed to various religious denominations, such as the Methodist, Disciples, 
Baptist and Presbyterian. This school was conducted as such until in 1868 
when the Methodist Episcopal society felt that they were strong enough to 
go by themselves and organized a Sunday school, which has continued 
to the present time and is now the strongest and most numerous that it has 
ever been, numbering at the present time six hundred and fift_\' members with 
Rev. C. W. Campbell as superintendent. They also sustain a fine orchestra 
with their school and the other accompaniments which attach to a first-class 
organization. 

They have a Ladies' Aid Society of about eighty members and it is 
doing heroic work for the church. This society is the oiif spring of one 
organized in the fall of 1864 then known as the Ladies' Association of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, of which Mrs. J. Saunders was president, Mrs. 
L A. Fancher, vice-president, Mrs. L E. Arnold, secretary. Mrs. D. H. Nel- 
son, treasurer. In the spring of 1865 they adopted a set of by-laws. This 
name continued with them until November 2. 1885, when the name was 
changed to the Ladies' Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

The first church building and lots were finally sold or rather traded by 
the society to D. H. Nelson for the present site and afterwards the building 
was sold to the city of Mt. Pleasant for a council room and fire department 
and is still occupied for these purposes. The lots were afterwards sold to 
W. E. Preston, on which he has built a large and commodious residence 
which he and his famil}" still occupy. 

The line of ministers who have carried on the good work of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church in this community since its first organization has been 
an illustrious one, and their names are substantiall\- as follows: Rev. George 
Bradley, old Father Sheldon, as he was familiarly called: L. ~M. Garlic, D. 
O. Fox, J. \\'ebb, T. J. Spencer, \\'. T. Williams, in the sixties ; Eli West- 
lake. G. \\'. Gosling, E. H. Sparling, A. C. Beach. ^^■. \\'. Ware, J. H. 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 21CJ 

Bready, in the seventies; J. W. Halienbeck, J. K. Stark. 1883: Ciei L. Height, 
1884-3-6: Robert Shorts. 1887-8; C. A. Odhnii, 1889; E. L. Kellogg. 1890-1 ; 
G. A. Buell. 1892-3-4; R. A. Wright, 1895-6-7; Addis Albro, 1898-9-1900; 
Joseph Dutton, 1901-2-3-4-5 ; Hugli Kennedy. 1906-7-8; Thomas Cox, 
1909-10, and still here, and doing spleiiditl work. The society has grown 
from a very small beginning to nnmber some three hundred and fifty com- 
municants and about twenty i)r()l)alinnisl>. li lias also tlic usual young 
people's society, the Epworth League, with a niem])ership of about fifty, and 
a Brotherhood of St. Paul, numbering some fifty, .all in active operation. 
Also a Foreign Missionary Society of some forty-five members, with Mrs. 
H. Morrison as president, 'ihey have also a Home Missionary Society, with 
fifty-five members, with Mrs. E. M. Jeti'erson as president. They are both 
doing a good work in the line in which they are engaged. 

Their church building cost, with the lots on which it stands, something 
like fifteen thousand dollars and. with the minister's residence, something 
like four thousand dollars more. It is centrally located and holds a com- 
manding place in the community. 

PRESBYTERIANS. 

In March. 1867. the Presinterian Ministerial Aid Society was funned. 
Its object was to aid in the raising of the minister's salary and such other 
work in the church as such society might find to do. 

The ladies who organized the society are as follows: Mrs. I. A. Fan- 
cher. Mrs. E. G. Wilder, Mrs. Emma Fo.x. Mrs. .\. W'illey. Mrs. W. Trim. 
Miss Jennie Hapner. Miss Sadie Hapner. Miss A<le Wilder. The gentlemen 
who were honorarv members were as follows: E. (i. Wilder. Albert Fox. 
A. Willey and W. Trim. The first otificers were: Mrs. E. Ci. Wilder, presi- 
dent; Mrs. A. \\'illey, vice-president; Mrs. I. .\. Fancher, secretary, and 
^liss Addie Wilder, treasurer. 

They knit, .sewed and held ten-cent .-socials until they had accumulated 
one thousand dollars, when they wrote to Re\'. Father Clark, of Marshall, 
Michigan, to come up ami look over the field and see if a Presbyterian church 
could not be formed at Mt. Pleasant. 

In July of that year he came, l)ringing with him Deacon Heidelberg, of 
Kalamazoo. They visited all of the families in Mt. Pleasant and found two 
who had been Presbvterians in Xew ^'ork and two who would unite on 
profession of faith. On this occasion a society was formed with the four 
meml)ers. the records were written up and placed in the hands of one of the 
members. 



220 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

A few weeks later Rev. Cliester Armstrong, a Presbyterian minister 
from Lansing, came to Mt. Pleasant and preached se\-eral times to the 
people, baptising children and perfecting the records of the church. 

The Methodist Episcopal people having in the meantime Jjuilt their 
church and organized a Sunday school, taking with them the larger portion 
of the Union school and also the superintendent, his wife and daughter, 
which left but a single member of the Presbyterian church. In the changes 
wrought the records of the Presbyterian church disappeared and were never 
recovered, so that it was necessary to draft proceedings from memory or 
wait and have a new organization. Mrs. W. Doughty had come to Mt. 
Pleasant to live and she and the other member of the Presbyterian church 
proceeded to organize a Sunday school under that persuasion, which has con- 
tinued to the present time. 

In April, 1870, Rev. Henry Belknap was. sent to the Presbyterians to 
work in the cause. He was a very fine Christian gentleman and had a most 
estimable wife; his health, however, was delicate and he only stayed a short 
time until he was advised to seek a warmer climate and moved from the 
town. A little later on Rev. M. Cameron, of Bay City, came to the town 
and intended to remain with the Presbyterians. He further perfected the 
organization of the church by calling a meeting and electing trustees under 
the statute. The Ladies' Aid Society purchased a parsonage at his recjuest 
and had the garden made. The reverend gentleman finally went back to 
Bay City for the purpose of moving his family to Mt. Pleasant, but for some 
reason not known to the people here he failed to return. The ladies sold the 
parsonage without even reserving the unharvested crop of potatoes. 

In the early winter Rev. George Wood came from the Flint presbytery, 
reaching Mt. Pleasant in the early morning on a Sabbath day. He had 
walked from ^lidland, thirty-six miles, through the mud and slush of a 
thawing time. A more forlorn, disconsolate looking individual we never 
saw. Think of a parson tramping thirty-six miles in the mud, water and 
slush, through a dark, strange and uninhabited wilderness of timber all night 
long, with his mind on the sermon that he expected to deliver to the people 
of Mt. Pleasant on that Sunday, and ask yourself if you don't think that an 
all-wise Ruler would have done a humane thing if he had interfered just a 
little and kept that minister over the night in Midland and let the good peo- 
ple of Mt. Pleasant starve just one more Sunday for the spiritual food the 
reverend gentleman expected to give them. 

This gentleman was a scholar in all of the dead languages. He had 
Latin, Greek and Hebrew in every pocket, but he had no more idea of what 



ISAKKI.I.A fOLNI^'. MH IIICA.V. 221 

tilis world or tlie people in it were made for tlian a barbarian. His knowl- 
edge was all bead work, witb Init little beart work in it. He was excusable 
from tiie fact tliat be was born in a foreign land and bail not mixed witb 
people — only delved in books and only sncli books as would tend to make of 
bim a minister. Why. be was so impracticable tbat he could not drive a 
horse and cutter through a ten-foot gateway. We saw him try it once; he 
was to liring to a social function gotten up for bis benefit a school marm 
from the Indian Mills. The horse and cutter was bitched up for him at the 
barn, he mounted the seat, picked up the lines and started for the gateway, 
which was straight ahead. When be reached the opening he went plump 
against the south gate post and broke the rave of the cutter, he then backed 
up and swung off to tiie left, started again and went plump against the north 
post, breaking off the left cutter rave. 

Some of the members of tiie Ladies" Aid Society in 1874-5 were Mrs. 
Hopkins, Doughty, Fancher, Xelson, \X. Harris, Bouton, Murry, Miss E. 
Slater, R. Xott and Mrs. (lilman. These were the years that the Aid So- 
ciety was working for money to purchase the lot for the church building 
to l)e erected upon. During these years they held socials, fairs, etc., in 
twenty-one different [)laces and cleared so that they bad on hand the sum 
of one hundred tweKe dollars and sixty-three cents, and with this they 
paid as follows : 

April 2, 1875. to C. Bennett, on church lot ■ $ 60.00 

June 24, 1875, to C. Bennett, on ciiurch lot 20.00 

October 19, 1875, to C. Bennett, on church lot 20.00 

October 2~. 1875, to C. Bennett, on church lot 10.00 

Total $110.00 

The credit of this work and aid to the church building belongs to the 
Ladies .\id Society. After securing the lot the members and friends of the 
church began to collect material and means for the erection of a church edi- 
fice. .\ subscri])tiiin list was circulated, with tlie result that the ciiurcb was 
encouraged to undertake the task of securing plans and specifications for a 
building and to get the material on the ground and to commence the building. 
After much bard work and worry the building was finally completed and 
])reparations for its dedication were arranged for. In I'cbruary. 1875. the 
good peo])le ct>ngregated at the church. lia\iiig witb them the Rev. Middle- 
mus. of Saginaw, who i)reacbed the dedicatory sermon. Rev. C"al\in Clark. 



222 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

Rev. Mr. \\'illett, Knott. Sparling. Turrell and others assisting. This build- 
ing was. for the time, a very respectable edifice and answered the purpose for 
which it was built for many years, to-wit, until about 1907. April ist. when 
they sold the property to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In the 
meantime the society had negotiated for the lot on which their present church 
is situated and soon thereafter commenced the erection of a very beautiful and 
commodious structure, it lieing on lot 8, in block 32, in the city of I\It. Pleas- 
ant, original plat. 

The new church is a fine structure, of a modern style of architecture and 
verv commodious, is well lighted and heated, is in a central place and is an 
ornament to that part of the city. The structure cost about eight thousand 
dollars. They now have about one hundred and twenty-five members, wliich 
is a good showing considering the small commencement. The organization 
was made back in the early days of Mt. Pleasant \\ hen it too was in its infancy. 
January 10. 1871. another effort was made and the society was organized. 
Rev. E. Wishard and Rev. Luke Xott being present to assist. The meml>ers 
to form the society were James Brodie and Mrs. C. Brodie. Alexander Gray, 
Henry S. Bouton and ]Mrs. C. A. Bouton, ]\Irs. Sallie Hapner. Emily H. Case, 
Mrs. Jane A. \\'arner, Mrs. A. 'SI. Fancher, !Mrs. ^lary F. Doughty. Mrs. 
Sallie A. '\^'elper. ]\Irs. Huntress. Alexander Gray and H. S. Bouton were 
marie elders. 

Afterward and in January. 1873, \\'illiam Slater and wife and Charles 
Slater united and afterward Charles Slater was made an elder : these two 
elders have remained such ever since and are now acting as such. 

The first minister ha^•ing charge of the church was Rev. Luke Xott, 
commencing back in 1871. He remained until about 1871'). when Rev. Charles 
A. Ta}lor took his place. Then came Rev. E. \\'. Borden in April. 1878, 
who remained about a year and then was followed by Rev. Campbell, who re- 
mained for some time and was followed by Rev. E. G. Cheeseman, who re- 
mained until aliout April. 1885. when he severed his connection with the 
society. He was followed by Rev. F. A. Bissell about Xovember, 1885, he 
remaining for a couple of years, when Rev. Melvin Frazer was engaged and 
took the pulpit about June. 1888. He remained until about March. 1890, 
when bis resignation was accepted and in December. 1890. Rev. W. H. Hoff- 
man took the pulpit and remained until October, 1895, when he severed his 
pastorial connection and moved away. After Mr. Hoffman left they had no 
regular preaching until about 1896 when Prof. Charles McKenney, of the 
Central X'ormal, occupied the pulpit for a time and then, in April, 1897, Rev. 
H. Vanommeron was secured. He remained till about January. 1898, or 



ISABELLA COI.'NTV. MKIIUiAN. 22^ 

'99 ami then lie withflrew and aldiiit .May. i89(;. \\ . 11. Simmons came to the 
church and he remained for some time, .severinj^ his connections with the 
church about Xovember. 1902. and was followed by Rev. M. Grigsljy January 
27. 190,^ He remained until about September, 1905, and was followed by 
Rev. J. .\. McGraham September 25. 1905. He remained and was a strong 
mover in the erection of the church. After the ciuirch was built he rcmaineil 
for a time and then moved to Wisconsin and Rev. \\'. 11. Long took up the 
work and is still in the active discharge of his duties as pastor of the church. 

The church has the usual societies that go with and are really a part of 
the working force of the church. Their Sunday school numbers about one 
hundred and twenty-five, with Prof. John Kelley as superintendent. They 
have a Home and Foreign Mission Society: a Christian Endeavor Society, of 
about twenty members, with Miss Ethel Preston as president: a Ladies .-Xid 
Society, of some fifty members, with Mrs. Keeler as president am! Mrs. r)r. 
Sheline as secretary. These are all active and necessary adjuncts to the church 
and are doing a good work. 

The present session is composed of Charles Slater, George Snider, H. S. 
Bouton, F. C. Crego, ^L F. Brown, with Prof. C. T. Grawn as clerk. The 
lx)ard of trustees are Prof. C. T. Grawn, B. L. Parkhill, R. Doughty, C. E. 
Hagan. John Kelley, Dr. J. F. Adams, Dr. G. F. Richardson, W. S. McMillan 
and Charles Slater. 

THE BAPTIST CIIURril. 

The next church to be erected in Isabella county was the Baj^tist church 
at Salt Ri\er. now called Shepherd. This church was built in 1872, by a few 
men and women of the Baptist persuasion with others who felt that a church 
in a new countr}- was a good acquisition and would well rejiay any effort in 
money or labor that they might make. 

EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

In 1883 the Episcopalians, feeling the need of a stable and consecrated 
place of worship, began the building of a ncit and commodious chapel in the 
south and west part of the city, upon a lot generously donated to the church b\- 
Gen. Dwight May, father of Mrs. William X. Brown. It was largely through 
the efiforts of William X. Brown that the church was built. It was completed 
at a cost of about four thousand dollars, and was duly dedicated and conse- 
crateil on January 10. 1884, by the Rt. Rev. Bishop George D. Gillespie, of 
Grand Rapids. Michigan, assisted by Revs, W. A. Masters, of Detroit, B. F. 



224 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

Mattraii, Stears. Pritchard, and Rhames. The ceremony of consecration 
was \erv solemn and impressi\-e and left a lasting impression on every one 
present. After the dedicatory services the sacrament of the Lord's Supper 
was administered to all who were pleased to partake and a great many ac- 
cepted the very generous invitation. After these solemn ceremonies were 
concluded the invited guests were invited to repair to the Bennett House to a 
sumptuous dinner at the request and as the guests of William X. Brown, who 
treated them royally. The building is a neat structure, of frame, veneered 
with brick, and is copied largely from one of the old English churches. The 
church is well and centrally located, is nicely finished inside, the pews are com- 
modious and easy of seat, and it has sufficient capacity for about two hundred 
persons. The chancel is furnished with both a reading desk and a communion 
table, with also a vestry room with all the necessary vestments. 

The present rector, the Rev. Herman J. Keyser, has been in charge since 
September i, 1910. Since his arrival there has been \ery much active work 
performed. In all, six working organizations have been organized, sujjple- 
menting the strongest organization in the parish, the Ladies Guild. The par- 
ish organizations are the Ladies Guild, the Daughters of the King, the Girls 
Friendly Society, the Junior Auxiliary, the Woman's AuxiHarx'. the Knights 
of St. Paul and the Little Helpers. 

The parish is alive and has a number of great plans for the future. The 
rector, like the congregation, is intensely interested in the develoijment of the 
civic life of the city. 

The Baptist people formed a societ_\- in 1883 of some six members and had 
preaching from time to time as places could be found to hold services in. 
until, in 1885, the society had gained in numbers and strength sufficient to 
warrant them in undertaking to build a church edifice of sufficient size and 
capacity for their present and future needs. So in the year 1886 they com- 
menced the erection of a building, having purchased lot 9 in block 12, Kin- 
ney's addition to Mt. Pleasant. It is a fine location, on the north side of 
Broadway street and conveniently and centrally located as to population. 
They completed their building about 1886 and occupied the same for church 
ptu'poses. The building was duly dedicated with the solemn dedicatory ser- 
vices usual in that organization. 

They have a fair attendance at their weekly services and have the usual 
Sunday school and other auxiliary societies connected with their church. All 
of them report a good attendance and are pleased with their growth and out- 
look for the future. 

The Baptists have an organization and church building on section 30 of 



ISABELLA COUNTV, MICHIGAN. 2^5 

Lincoln townsliip. It was estal>lislie(l some years ago and is still prosperous 
and lias as supporters such families as l)a\id Bush, the Hapners, I'iggs and 
others, which is a guarantee of stability and growth. Rev. .Mlenhaugli is 
their pastor and is an efficient and ardent worker. 

.\bout eighteen years ago Milton Forbes, an ardent Baptist, was instru- 
mental in the forming of a society of tiiat persuasion and in building the Bap- 
tist churcli. known as the k'urbes churcli. It was a tine and commodious 
building and served all of the necessities of the organization. Mr. Forbes 
afterward died and the .society has ceased to occupy the !)uilding and the 
Dunkards are now occupying the property. 

rRKF.-WII.l, I!.\PTISTS. 

There is a l-'ree-W'iil Baptist organization in CiihiKjre, organized in 1881, 
and their church is located on section 22 of that town. The church is a 
.small one, but sufficient for the accommodation of its memliers and supporters. 
Mrs. Sifton. John P. Sifton. Mrs. I-^lliott and others are the stable persons in 
the society. They ha\e no stated preacher now. Like man\- others, they are 
not able at all time to secure competent preachers for tiie money they can 
afford to ]iay. 

FREE METHODISTS. 

The Free Metliodists have a churcli organization in Lincoln. The build- 
ing, which is on section 9, has been l)uilt quite a number of years and was at 
one time very active and prosperous, but the memliers have died or scattered 
so that at the present there are l>ut few. William Tomlinson is one of tiie 
standbys and to him is largely due the credit for keeping up preaching at the 
church. It meets a certain need of religious worship in the community and 
they are entitled to much credit for their perseverance and .self-sacrifice. 

There was another organized some years ago in iiroumtield. i'he church 
is located on section 34, on East Side, and its i)rincii)al sujiporters are John 
Packard and several ladies. In this case, as others, the ladies are largely the 
mainstay and support of the feeble churches. They have no stated preacher, 
Init hold services and have a minister when convenient. 

A Free Methodist church was organized in Deerfield some time ago and 
a church built at the Reynolds corners on section 4 in the southeast corner. 
It is a good building, well built and well seated, but the interest seems to have 
ceased and tiie building is closed. 

O5) 



226 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

Also on the Stucky farm there was a church of the denomination IniiU 
and a society formed some years ago. The church is on section 7,^. 

In Weidman, May 27, 1899, John Cline, Thomas Farquer and Jacob 
Wiley were elected trustees of a Free Methodist organization. 

THE CHURCH OF GOD. 

The Clnurch of God is represented by an organization in tlie Delo settle- 
ment in the town of Fremont. Their church is on the southwest quarter of 
section 17. They have a good church and a good following and their mem- 
1jers are among the stanch people of the town. They bii\e a stated preacher, 
and keep up a good religious atmosphere in the vicinity. 

The Holiness people organized as the Church of God in Jesus Christ 
on the 26th of March. 1891, at the meeting house on the southeast corner of 
section 32. W. M. Allen, Jennie Allen. T. McShea. Cora Bailey and sixteen 
others formed the organization and are still working and worshiping there. 

Some years ago a Union church was built west of Winn. It was used 
for some time and then went into disuse and the Methodist Episcopal people 
later used it, though it is unoccupied at present. 

THE DLSCIPLES. 

The Disciples were among the earliest to hold church services at i\It. 
Pleasant. As far back as 1863 Langdon Bentley and a few other members 
of that persuasion were in the habit of holding occasional services in the city 
and as early as 1863 a few of their people organized a society in Mt. Pleasant. 
It was during this year that one Goodrich came and preached a few days to 
the peo])le. His plea was a union of all Christians on the Bible alone. ".A 
faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God," being the only creed. "A repentant 
attitude toward God for all sin." "A confession of His name before the world."' 
"An actual baptism of the whole body," as the primary act of obedience, and 
these followed by a life of love and purity. 

This organization was kept up for a time and then ])ecaiue lukewarm and 
ceased for a time to meet. About 1876 Elder R. R. Cook, of Shepherd, 
preached for the scattered few for a time and effected an organization. Dur- 
ing the year 1882 Mrs. Mary R. Peak, who was an ardent Disciple, settled in 
Mt. Pleasant with her family, several of whom also were of that faith. This 
gave the cause some further strength. Things moved along in aljout the same 
wav until 1888. when ReA\ C. ]M. C. Cook moved here and went into business. 



ISABELLA COINTV, MICHIGAN. 2^7 

For four years more things went on al)OUt as usual until Elder E. R. Coburn 
and wife moved from Winn to Mt. Pleasant. Soon thereafter these two 
elders. Cook and Coburn. made a canvass and found seventeen persons that 
were of tlicir f.iitlu So on tlie uth of Xoscniber, i8<)j, these seventeen per- 
sons met at the residence of Mrs. Peak and. after a .short talk In- Rev. Cook, a 
permanent organization was formed. Elders Cook and Coburn being made 
elders and Reugsegger and ^Irs. Peak, deacons. On December 3d a meeting 
was iield at Elder Coburn's ;ind tlie work of organizalinn was cumplcted. .\ 
committee was authorized to negotiate witli the Unitarian people for the rental 
of their cliurch building, wliich was accomplished, and on the loth of Decem- 
ber tliey took possession an<i tliis was their church liome until they entered 
tlieir nwn churcli building in kjoi. Rcw C. M. C. Cook was their preacher 
from Sunday to Sunday for some time, witli occasionally one from outside 
who came for some special meeting, at which tiiues memljers were gathered 
in until 1897, when tiie membership had increased to one hundred and fifty- 
' four, (^n Decenilier 5, 1898. Re\-. C. M. C. Cook passed to the l;eyiMid to meet 
his reward. 

Then I\e\-. H. E. Rosseil was called and tilled the pulpit until abnul 
November, 1899, when he resigned. In the following spring I-'red S. Liuscll. 
from Paw Paw, Michigan, took the pastorate, and during the summer a meet- 
ing of the congregation was held and it was decided to undertake the building 
of a church. As soon as material could be gotten together the work was com- 
mencetl and was continued as fast as the funds would admit of. Rev. Lin- 
sell, father of the pastor, donated all of the windows, at a cost of one hundred 
and fifty dollars. His wife also gave fifty dollars to aid in the good work. 
The work went on during the winter so that about March ist they held 
services in the new building fur the first time. Tlie\' bad no seats, so they 
brought chairs from home, the generous llaptists sending over some fifty 
chairs to help out. There were no lights, so they brought lamps and torches 
from home. No organ, but the generous Mrs. Day loaned them one. No 
pulpit, so a stand took the place. 

Rev. Linsell resigned June 17, 1901, and on July ist. following. Prof. 
Jdlm Munro, of Bethany, tonk up the work. He worked until July i, 1903. 
when he resigned and on the 13th of Noveml^er, 1905, Elder J. Frank (ireen 
took up the work. He was an enthusiastic worker and called in to help him 
Rev. J. Raum, with Miss Buck as soloist. Under Rev. Green the number of 
members ran up to about two hundred and sixty-six. In Xoxember l-llder 
(ireen's time CN])ired and he went to Rochester. New ^'<irl<. and on I'ebruary 
1st, Rev. C. .\. Whaley was engaged and he stayed till 1907. when he resigned 
to go to other fields. 



228 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

In the fall of that year Rev. J. O. Walton took his place and remained for 
about one year and was then succeeded by Rev. A. R. Harper, who came in 
April, 1910, and is still in the field. They ha\e a large church membership, 
numl^ering some two hundred, with a Sunday school of about one hundred and 
thirty-five enrolled, with Harrison W'alden as superintendent and Rexford 
Chapman as assistant. The Ladies Aid have a meniljership of aljout thirty- 
fi\e, with Mrs. A. R. Harper as president and doing a sjilendid work in the 
cause. They have also a Christian Endeavor Society with aliout thirty mem- 
bers. 

In connectiiin with the Sunday school, they hax'e a class of young ])eople 
under the tutelage of the minister and in connection with that they publish a 
fourteen-page paper, issued monthly with Rex Chapman as editor, Malcom 
Crawford assistant editor and Mrs. Clorine Crotser as reporter. They are 
publishing a very neat and readable paper. .All in all. they are all doing good 
and efficient work in their particular field. 

Some twenty years ago the Disciples organized a church at Salt River and 
continued to hold meetings for a time, until they were sufficiently strong to 
build a church. About seventeen or eighteen years ago, feeling the need of 
a church edifice, they began the erection of a medium sized building, suffi- 
cientlv large for their accommodation, and after some effort the church was 
completed and dedicated by proper ceremonies. It is a good brick edifice and 
has supplied their need for these many years. The congregation and mem- 
bership is made up of some of the foremost representati\e men and women 
of the town, such as Doctor Gruber. Joseph Miser and family, Thomas Han- 
net, Thomas Ankrem, W. S Fordyce and others, with Rev. E. C. Xeese as 
minister. The church is in a sound and substantial condition and is doing 
good Christian work in the community. 

There was a long time ago another Disciples church founded at Coe. in 
Coe township, at what was known as the Leonard settlement. The earlier 
settlers of Leonards, Fordxces. Woods and other were largely Disciples, com- 
ing from Pennsylvania and \'irginia. This organization built a church build- 
ing about ten years ago. a neat and commodious edifice sufficiently large for 
their accommodation. The Rev. W'ingate is their present minister. 

In 1881 in the township of Gilmore there was a Disciples church organiza- 
tion and a church building at the northeast corner of section ij. The lead- 
ers are J. L. Fordyce. Thomas Mills. Jessie Wood. M. L. McAlvey. Eli For- 
dyce. Lakins Fordyce. H. L. Wood. Shattuck Jarnian and others: their min- 
ister is Rev. Wyman. This is a live and prosperous organization, the church 
is well attended and is in a jirosperous condition. 



ISAlilCI.I.A COLXTY, MirHIGAN. 229 

About tlie year 1857 the Methodist Episcopal periple of Salt Ri\er formed 
an organization in tlie old log scliool iiouse on tiie James C am])hcll farm, just 
south of tlic Salt River corners. They liuilt a clnnch Imilding in 1883-4. 
They were then few in numbers, but have since increased in numbers and in 
interest. The first jjastor was Rev. R. P. Sheldon and the class consisted of 
fourteen members. They increased so that in iqo*) thev were able to con- 
struct a tine church edifice, costing about twelve thousand h\c hundred dollars. 
It is a large and imposing building and is well and beautifullx- finished and was 
o])ened December 19, 1909. The society now includes such persons as H. D. 
Bent, W. L. Dibble, A. E. Clark. E. .\shworth. J. Clark, their families with 
others. TJieir nnnister is Rev. X. P. Brown. Thex' have a membership of 
one hundred and thirty-two and they are in a highly prosperous condition. 
The Sunday school numbers one hundred and fifty, with A. E. Clark as super- 
intendent. The Shei)herd Aid Society has sixty-eight members, with Mrs. 
E. L. Orser as president, and the Epworth League has forty members, w ith 
II. .\. Lyon as president. Pastors ha\e been Revs. Sheldon. George Bradley, 
D. O. Eox, L. M. Carlock, J. H. Webb, J. W. Cawthorne. J. Hills. D. 

B. Searls. C. W. Smith, in 1883-4, Thomas Cayton, A. A. Darling. Thomas 
Young, G. H. Lockhart, E. L. Sinclair, G. W. Ri.ggs. W. \'. Manning, D. E. 
Reerl, W. ^\'. .\ylsworth. Elliott Bonk. I'rank Cookson. Louis Blancheiie, 

C. E. Pollock: then comes the new church with Rev. X. P. Brown. Tlie 
original charter members were William \\'(incb and wife. RicJiard Wdnch 
and w ife, Charles Sawyer and nine others, long since dead. 

This is. sa\'ing the Methodist Episcojial church at Mt. Pleasant, the largest 
and most prosperous of the Methodist churches in the county. It had an 
early start, in fact, before the one at Mt. Pleasant and e\en liefore Mt. 
Pleasant was thought of and several years before it was platted. It was In- 
far the most happily located of any in the county, as it was at Salt Riser, 
where all of the repentant defeated politicians congregate after an unsuc- 
cessful campaign. Perhaps the saddest part of it is that they generally are 
without funds when the unsuccessful campaign is closed and if so are but 
little use or comfort to the brothers and sisters that have their permanent 
abiding i)lrice there. The good brothers and sisters, seeing their unfortunate 
dilemma, changed their location and are nnw in the village of Shepherd and 
away from that baleful influence. 

The Methodists have a church and Iniilding on section 31 in Lincoln 
township. Josei)h Brownridge is one of the principal pillars in the society 
and is verv much interested in the work and growth of the church. It is 
not a large edifice, but comfortable and makes them a good home. Theit 



230 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

present minister is tlie Rev. Rodes, who lives at Winn. He is a good 
preacher and they sustain a good congregation and are in good order. 

Winn lias a Methodist Episcopal church, with Mrs. L. E. Hunt, Mrs. 
Jacob Baker, J. L. Sanderson and others as leaders in the church. The Rev. 
Rodes also fills this pulpit and is a wise and successful advocate of his profes- 
sions. 

A Methodist Episcopal cliurch is established and located at Blanchard, 
with Mrs. J. Miller and others as leading members. Their present pastor re- 
sides at Millbrook in Mecosta county. 

There is also one called the Pleasant Hill church on section 28 in Rolland 
township. Mrs. W'illiam Moody, ^^'iliiam Miller, Harry Boll and A. J. 
Smith being among the leaders and supporters of this organization. They 
are a recent organization fornied in January, 1907. and built a new church 
building only a couple of years ago. This gi\es them a fine church home 
and they enjoy their new r|uarters very much. They are making all they 
can of their opportunities and are prosperous and happy. 

Caldwell has a church society of the Methodist Episcopal persuasion. 
Henrv Bacon, Mrs. Richardson, who has now gone west, and some others \\ere 
the movers and sustainers of the church. Some seven or eight years ago they 
started to build a church and with a good deal of effort were able to finish 
it a year or so ago. 

At Deerfield Center one was established about 1892 or 1893. It is sup- 
ported and sustained by such prominent persons as Da\"id Johnson, William 
Irvin, T. T. Covert, William J. Johnson and George Reed, with others. 

Another Methodist Episcopal organization was effected some twenty-four 
or twenty-five years ago called the Coomer church. It is located near Mr. 
Coomer's and is sustained by X. G. Coomer, Frank Durner, Arnold Stutting. 
Michael Ackerman and others. The present minister is the Rev. Rodes, of 
Winn. This is a zealous and efficient church, and is in a substantial condi- 
tion. 

The Methodist Episcopal church known as the Landon church was built 
some seventeen years ago. largely through the efforts and persuasion of Miss 
Ardelia Landon, who worked assiduously for some time for its establish- 
ment and the construction of a church Ijuilding. She lived to see the corner- 
stone laid and soon after went to her reward. The church cost some 
two thousand dollars and was a most commodious and substantial build- 
ing and has served well its purpose in building. The first minister was Rev. 
David E. Reed, who filled the pulpit about four years and was succeeded by 
A. L. Sinclair, George W. Riggs. then Revs. W. P. ^Manning, Levi .\ler, A. 



ISABELLA COrNTV. MIC IHCAN. 23 1 

W. Aglewtirtli. K. Rouck, 1.. Blanchctt, then 11. Janctt, C. Seip and now 
Rev. C. E. Davis. 

On section 4 of Denver there was organized a ciuirch societv and a 
ciiurch liuilt some fifteen vears ago. T. O. McGregor is tiie leading spirit and 
Rev. Davis is now their pastor. It is not a large one, but meets tiie demand 
for that part of tlie cnuntv. 

Ihere is also in the same town.shi]) one located at Leaton. which was 
organized something like eighteen years ago. This is a small but commodious 
building and answers all the requirements of the people of that persuasion 
in that vicinity. Thomas Tonkin and wife arc members and. with others, are 
holding the fort and making good use of tlieir opportunities. The Rev. Davis 
also supplies this pulpit and gives the people good service. 

The Methodists have lately got a foothold and have built a neat little 
churcli btu'Iding a half mile north and two miles west of Rrinton. Thev have 
a .small congregation, but are enthusiastic in the work. The church was built 
in 1910 and is a frame building. 

About 1873 a Methodist Episcopal society was formed in (lilmore town- 
ship and a church building was erected on the scjuthwest quarter of section 24. 
Some of the present members and supporters of that society are Frank W'olfer, 
Joseph Graham. I'rank Teachtnit. Miles Schofield. James Schotlcld, Lewis 
Richards with dthers. They have some seventy members in all and are a 
strong and advancing church. The Rev. Keene is their pastor and is a strong 
and convincing minister. 

.\t Loomis there is an organization and they have taken over the build- 
ing that was built some years ago as a union church, or iree for all comers. 
When Loomis lost its manufacturing business it settled down as an agricul- 
tural community and so far it has not yet returned to its former glorv and 
they seem to be content to live on such fat of the land as a good farming 
country can produce, which is all that can be had anywhere. So they live and 
enjoy themseKes spiritually as well as in every other way they can. 

.\t Herrick the Methodists have a prosperous organization with such as 
J. H. Lansing. William Badgly. J. Presley, and others of that stamp as lead- 
ers. It is an nld and well established church, built and dedicated in Xovem- 
ber. 1890, by Rev. Gown, presiding elder, with Rev. Walker, of Clare, as 
preacher. The hrst sermon was by Rev. Dayton at William Badglev's. and 
first Sunday school in 1880. This is a stanch and sulid mganization and is 
doing much good in that coinmunitw It supi)lies all of their spiritual wants, 
and who can want more? 



232 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 



WESLEYAN METHODISTS. 



Tlie W'eslevan Methodists liave a society and church, also a parsonage, 
at Blanchard. ^Ir. Mower is the leading spirit. 



UNITED BRETHREN. 

The United Brethren have a church organization at Holland. They are 
located on section 2. with William McCabe as one of the leaders. Their 
cliurcii is a frame building and is thoroughly adapted to their wants. 

SEVENTH-D.\Y .\DVENTISTS. 

Tiie Seventh-Day Ad\entists ha\e an organization and church. They 
were organized many years ago and \\'allace Cole, George Cole and Joseph 
Struble were a building committee and they purchased a piece of land on 
Stephen StillwelFs farm, on the west side of section 35 in Union township. 
The church has had a varying existence. At present there is no regular 
service. Thev or other people sustain a nice Sunday school. Clyde Sho- 
walter is the superintendent and it is in a prosperous condition. 

EVANGELICAL CHURCH. 

There is an Evangelical organization in Union known as the Brookens 
church. They are located on the northwest corner of section 5. 

The E\angelical people also ha\e an organization in Chippewa in the 
Tavlor district. Their church was built some twelve years ago while Rev. 
Charles Taylor was yet alive. Rev. J. J. ilarshall is their minister and is 
an active, energetic and persuasive gentleman. He is doing a good work and 
has some good people to aid and assist him. such people as the A. C. \^an 
Deens. J- ^I- Kennedv. J. Imhoff, all good workers. Their society is in a 
prosperous condition. 

The same minister, Re\'. Marshall, has lately organized and built a new 
church at or near ]\IcFaren's. in the southeast part of the township of Chip- 
pewa, on section 35. This was built in H)ro and cost about one thousand 
dollars. It is. in fact, a church that was remo\-ed from the south part of the 
state to this place and remodeled and is now a very presentable structure and 
accommodates all of the people in that neighborhood. 



ISABELLA CUlNTV. MKllUIAN. 233 

GERMAN LITIIERANS. 

A German Lutheran church was organized in Broomfield township some 
twenty years ago. at what was then known as the Hummel settlement. They 
Iia\e sustained a good organization ever since and now number something 
like one hundred members. This has always been a good substantial organ- 
ization and lias been instrumental of very uiucli good, educationally and 
spiritually, as they have a derman school every Saturdax' afternoon, wlien 
they teach their children in German and keep up the fatherland sentiment. 
The\- enjoy the society of such families as the Fritzes, Rodes. Hummells and 
the Leudes and many more of the solid substantial citizens of the vicinity. 

At the village of Brinton there is a union church, which is open to all 
who desire to worship there, and there is also a Latter-Day Saints organiza- 
tion. 

CHURCH OK THE OI'KX RHII-E. 

Also at Fhinton there was organized, on the 20th day of January. 1908. 
a Church of the Open Bible. They organized with thirty-tour members and 
it is said to be a strictly new and unique organization. Jacol) Schultz is one 
of the movers in the new thought. 

HOLINESS CHIRCH. 

On December 26. 1903, there was at Brinton an annual conference of the 
Holiness ^Movement church led l)y Bishop R. C. Horneg and B. O. Bishop. 
Among those in the movement were David C. Reed. Elizabeth M. Walchem. 
J. Dickinson. Willard L. Sherman. Stella I'urr. J, W. Day and Robert Day. 

EVANGELICAL UTHKRAN TUINITV CHlRCll. 

An Evangelical Lutheran Trinity church was organized September 22. 
190S, in Mt. Pleasant, with Otto L. Wissbeck, William Hummell, Sr.. William 
Hunimell. Jr.. Charles Hummel. .\. J. Gross. Da\ id Winterstein ami others. 
The movers in this formation are among our stanchest and most relial)le 
men and women. They have a nice church finely adapted for their use and 
are in a prosperous condition. 

The Presbyterians of Rosebush organizetl about the year 1S74 and some 
time afterward erected a chinxh. Some of the original movers in the enter- 
prise are Iose])h McXight, Donald Morrison. Timothy Dingman and others. 



234 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

They also keep up a Sunday school in connection with the church. Re\'. 
Luke Xott was the minister who organized them and who filled the pulpit for 
some time. 

At \\'ise is another Presbyterian church and congregation. The church 
was built about 1898 and the supporters of the cause at that place are J. J. 
Stevens and family, E. F. Wilt, J. Buckbrough with others. The Rev. 
Belden, of Coleman, officiates as pastor. The church is in a fine condition 
and is doing much good in the community. 

There was a Baptist church established at Rosebush about January J4, 
1887. The leading members in tliis religious body are Daniel Coyne, John 
Jackman, some of the House family, John Mention. They have in connection 
with the church a Sunday school which is quite well attended. The pulpit is 
supplied from Mt. Pleasant. The first trustees were John Walton, Elmer 
Hunt, Walter Monroe ; the clerk was Hannah Coyne : the charter meml)ers. 
John Walton, Mina Walton. Sarah Walton. Hannah Coyne, Ryane Monroe. 
Charles Monroe, Sarah Cammeron; present officers, John Walton, first 
deacon: Charles Monroe, treasurer. The church was dedicated June 3. 1894. 

The Methodist people also support a good church and ciiugregation. 
They built a church building about 1882. They number about fifty members, 
have a good Sunday school of about .-Txty attendants and a Ladies" Aid 
Society of twelve or fifteen members which has been, running for the last 
twehe nr fifteen years. The_\" ha\'e some good consecrated workers among 
theiu. such as Hugh Graham and family, William Johnson. Ed Johnson, and 
many others, with Rev. Holden as pastor. They are filling a place in the 
religious world about Rosebush which no other can supply and are doing 
service as they see the right. 

THE HORNERITES. 

There is also a Hornerite organization at Rosebush, supported and car- 
ried on by John Y. Johnson, Norman Wager and others. They erected a 
church building about four years ago. They entertain their peculiar beliefs 
and are very tenacious in their position and are also working up to their 
highest standard as they see the Scriptures. We sometimes feel that perhaps 
it is a good thing that the Scriptures are of such a makeup as to give ever>'- 
liody a clue to his preconceived idea of God and the universe so that he may 
enjoy in this free country any or all of the peculiar religious beliefs that may 
come to him. 

This .society has been established about eight years and beside the church 



ISABELLA LOIXTV. MKHUIAN. 235 

l)roi)ei" they suppnrt ;i Sunday school, not a large one. hul mie that is enthu- 
siastic in its way. 

There was established at \\'eidnian in 1904 a Free -Methodist clnn-ch 
and H. C. Pritchard was instrumental in the building of the edifice. It was 
a wooden structure alraut thirty-six feet by fifty feet, and was i)ut u]) in a 
neat and cnniniodious manner. .Mthougli the congregation was small, it was 
made up of some of the best of the village. Mrs. Mary Rathbm-n. Mrs. Wet- 
more and others. \\'ith the alwve are to be classed S. E. Taylor. S. H. Car- 
penter. Thomas Obis and \\'. H. Switzer and others. 

After the above came the Methodist people and in 1903 the_\- organized 
and commenced to build a church. G. H. Middlesworth was chairman of the 
building committee. J. A. Damon was secretary, and J. S. W'cidman was also 
on the committee, while J- B. McGinnis was pastor. 

Among the first trustees were J. S. Wcidman. G. H. Middlesworth. J. 
A. Damon. James A. Clift and John McClenathan. The church was dedi- 
cated about September or October, 1903. by Dr. Levi P. Master, with the 
usual impressive ceremonies, the church being full to overflowing with the 
members and neighbors. It has been a beacon light in that conimunitx' ever 
since. It has a fine basement under the church for the purposes rc(|uired and 
is now in prime working order. The number of the communicants are from 
about fifty to sixty and they also have a good Sunday school in connection, 
with about seventy members, and have Su])erintendeut Scbaiip])ner to lead 
them. They also ha\e an Epworth League as an auxiliary wiiich is verv 
much alive and in earnest in the work. 

The Free Methodists of Mt. Pleasant organized a societv on the i8th 
day of November. 1907. with fourteen members. The following are among 
the first organizers: Lafayette Demming. Flla Crooks. Maria Demming. 
Clara ^'incent. Sarah Hoag. .Mbert P>. Puchart. Lydia Hall. These, with 
the others, make a very nice small church and are filling their jjlace in the 
Christian world. 

The L'nited Pirethren in Christ have held services in the Stuckv church 
building. They commenced on February 15. 1902. The trustees elected were 
Edward Riggle for one year. A\ illiam Luit for two years. Charles Demln for 
three years. J. Master for four years and I'red Delo for five vears. 

C.XTHOLIC SOCIETIES AM) SCHOOLS. 

The Catholic people have a number of churches in the countv and they 
are generally well attended and are prosperous. Beside the one at Mt. Pleas- 



236 ISABELLA COLNTV, MICHIGAN. 

ant, wliich is one of the most important as to numbers and w liich has a large 
and prosperous school also, there is one in X'ernon township, located on sec- 
tion 3v This church cost something like three thousand dollars and has 
also a priest's residence, a very fine one. valued at about four thousand dol- 
lars. 

Father Crowlev built the church and the first priest after him was 
Father Edward Kozlowski. He was followed by Father James Moher and 
at a time when he was indisposed Father O'Conner took charge, but as soon 
as the Father was restored to health he returned and after a time he departed 
and Father Ruessmann took the charge, then next came Father John Engra- 
mann, and then Father Thomas \\'halan and then Father F. D. Malone and 
then Father O'Connell. About three years ago last November 15th. Father 
John |: [McAllister took the field and has remained since. Their church is 
thriving and has about one hundred families in the parish, numbering about 
five hundred souls. They are in a thriving condition and their charge is 
well sustained. They are a thrifty class of people and are living in one of 
the best portions of the county. 

There is a church also in Xottaway. which was established al)out 1892. 
They built a church about that time which they afterward used for a school and 
in 1897 built a fine church building. This was struck by lightning and burned. 
In 1 90s thev built a very fine church and priests" residence and in connection 
therewith is a large and prosperous school of one hundred sixty students 
under the tutelage of four Sisters. They also have a good school house, as 
well as a fine Sisters' residence, built in 19 10. They also have a resident 
priest. Father Alexander Zugelder. These people are largely German and 
have a fine, well improved and thrifty farming community. 

At Blanchard there is also a Catholic organization and a church building. 
It is a frame building and is suitably adapted to the wants of the people there. 
They have a fair congregation and the priest is stationed at Remus and sup- 
plies this pulpit. It is well sustained and meets the demand of the people. 

The Catholic society built a church building some four years ago at 
Leaton. which is well .supported. It was organized [March 24, 1906, and the 
land was inu'chased of Joseph Kerky. There are some twenty-four families 
attending there, which means some one hundred and twenty persons, and 
they are sui)plied bv Father 0"Conner. who attends one week day in each two 
weeks. 

At Shepherd they bought the Baptist church about two years ago and 
transformed it into a properly arranged Catholic church and are now occupy- 



ISABELLA COLXTV. MKllIGAX. 23/ 

ing it. Tliere are alwut forty families, luiiiiljeiiiig two luindred nieml)ers. and 
they ha\e I'^atlier John Mulvey. who supplies their spiritual necessities, and 
they are happy in their acquirement. 

The Catholic people at Mt. Pleasant were quite early on the ground in 
Isahella county and soon after their arrival felt the need of a church organ- 
ization and also of a building to worship in. After looking around for a time 
for a location, they secured the gift of three acres in the southwest part of 
the city and the 7th day of August. 187J, a deed was made of the chosen 
ground to Casper H. Burgiss, of Detroit. This was accepted and on the 
5th of September was placed on record in the county. 

The church organization was formed about this time with the following 
meml)ers: John McDonald. Rosy McDonald. Feli.x Lafnjnilwise, Thomas 
Thompson. William Baniber. Thomas Judge. Michael Kane. Cornelius Bogan. 
who acted as secretary and ke[)t tlie minutes of the meeting, which was held 
at the Bamber Hotel in Mt. Pleasant. The first mass was had at Thomas 
Thompson's house, southeast of town (the farm where John Warner lives), 
])y leather \'an Der Haden. the priest (ifficiating. .\ meeting was called on the 
9th of September. 1874. for the purpose of electing a Iniilding committee. 
At this meeting there were elected president. Thomas Judge; secretary. W. H. 
Richmond, and treasurer. \\'illiam Bamber. The Ijuilding committee were 
Thomas Judge. R. E. McDonald. Michael Kane and John A. Kehoe. At the 
same meeting it was arranged that the congregation should meet on the 
church grounds on September 2(iih. to clear off tlie ground, and it was further 
given out that Father Sweeney would be here at Mt. Pleasant on October 
14. 1874. 

On October 31, 1874. it was "Resolved as foljiiws by tlie building com- 
mittee of the Catholic church, that we bniild a church at Mt. Pleasant on the 
said church grounds at Mt. Pleasant, the size of the church to be thirty-eight 
by sixty feet, the height to be twenty-four feet between joists, the frame to 
l)e of square timber: offered by R. E. McDonald and carried." 

.\ committee to consist of John McDonald and Felix LafromlK)ise was 
appointed to raise monev for said churcli Die work tlien really commenced 
in earnest and in the winter. January 25. 1875. they entered into contract 
w ith P>ro\ver & Main for twenty-live thousand three hundred and twenty-five 
feet of common lumber and thirteen thousand five hundred feet of clear 
lumber, seven thousand feet of black ash an<l basswood lumber, and twenty- 
seven thousand shingles, the entire bill to be nine hundred and thirty dollars. 
The workmen on the building were W. H. Richmond. John Fox. Hank 
Richmond. W. 1. Dodds. (ieorge Dodds. Charles Fox and Charles McKinnon. 



238 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

The subscription list ran up to over two thousand six hundred dollars. L"p 
to June 3. 1876. the labor on the building had run up to eight hundred forty- 
four dollars and fourteen cents. The building was finally completed and 
the .society occupied this building and grounds until about February 28, 
1887, wlien they purchased block 22, of the city of Mt. Pleasant, prepara- 
tory to the change of location of their church and school. This is the lilock 
where the church, school, priest's residence and the old school building are 
located. They afterward purchased a Sisters" residence across the street 
to the south where they now reside. 

The old building was moved from its first site to the said lilock about 
1888 and used as before, and afterwartl for several years as a school build- 
ing. 

On December 2g. 1887, they sold and deeded the old site to Gorhams 
for a factorv site, it being convenient to the Ann Arbor railroad tracks. The 
three thousand dollars they received from the Gorhams for the old site went 
to aid them in building on the new. 

The present church was commenced in the year 1888, and was so far 
completed during that year and the fore part of 1889 that they were able 
to hold services in the basement, which the\- did for srime length of time and 
until thev finally completed the structure and commenced the use of it 
generally. It is a large and commodious building and so far has supplied 
the demands of the society. The total ^■alue of the structure is about twenty- 
five thousand dollars. It is a fine structure, well and appropriatel\' finished 
and furnished internally. 

As soon as the new church was so far completed that they could use it 
for services thev then remodeled the old one into a school Ijuilding, and opened 
a parochial school. 

This school has been continued until the present time and is now larger 
than it ever was before. The growth of the school has been such that in 1908 
thev felt that they were obliged to have more room and a better equipment 
than they had before and they commenced the erection of a new building by 
putting in a foundation, which they left till the next spring, when they began 
the superstructure. The building is a modern model of architecture and 
finish. 

They have been very fortunate in the priests they have had. Father 
McCarthy was the first resident priest, coming in 1880 and remaining about 
five years when he sickened and died, his death occurring on June 19, 1885. 
Father J. .A. Crowley succeeded him, locating here in Iul\-, 1885, and labored 
with the people until June 12, 1899, when he died and Father O'Conner took 
up the work August i, 1899. and is still with his people. 



ISABELLA COLNTV, MUIIKIAX. 239 

A large amount of work has l)ceii done l)y tliese several Fathers, which 
is evideTiced hy the \-isihle results in buililin,y;s and other inipmveinents, and 
from the .cfrowtii nf the congregations of the church and the advance in the 
schools in numljers, as well as in the eciuipmenl and a higher and more 
extendetl scope of studies, as well as their being awarded a place on the uni- 
versity list. The church membership has increased from a few communi- 
cants in 1874 to about thirteen hundred at the present time and some three 
hundred ])robationists. Father Crowley commenced the erection of a resi- 
dence for the Fathers and had nearly completed it when he was stricken with 
disea.se, from which he never recovered, .\fter his death ami the arrival of 
Father (VC'unner it was tinisheil, furnished and occupieil i)\' him. it is a 
large and cnmmodious residence, is convenient to the church and schoul and 
is much ap])reciated by all, and especially the leather. 

CHKISTLXN .SCIENCE CHLUCII. 

.-\s early as January, 1890. there was a call from .Mt. I'leasant for a 
worker in Christian Science sent to .Mi.ss Sarah J. Clark, nf Toledo, Ohio, 
and Mrs. S. J. Ibillirook res]'onded to the call to go ti) Ml. Pleasant where she 
found many persons who were weary of the disapiiointments in the effort to 
heal by the old material methods. 

Several cases of disease were healed and there followed an interest in 
the reading of "Science and Health," and e.ich W'ednesdav an hour was 
devoted to answering questions from many infjuirers. These gatherings led 
to a request for Sunday services where more could have the opportunity 
to hear the message of truth which has come to this age through Marv Baker 
G. Eddy. The Bible lessons published by the Christian Science Publishing 
Society, of Boston, Massachu.setts. were introduced, which gave the priv- 
ilege of studying the Bible, together with "Science and Health." .Mrs. 
Holbrook was called away and on the f)th day n\ March. uSqo, Miss E. R. 
Adams took her place. Children began to gather and a class of seven was 
formed March 9th as a nucleus of a Sunday school, which rapidly increased. 
Feeling the necessity of some place for their meetings, ten of the ladies volun- 
teered to provide a place, and a dwelling house was secured on Michigan street 
and was e(|uipped with the necessary Christian Science literature and opened 
to tlie public in January, 1891. 

During the year many expres.sed a desire to be taught the rudiments of 
Christian healing and the services of Miss Sarah J. Clark, of Boston. .Massa- 
chusetts, was secured. She came in June tn Mt. Pleasant and taught a class 
of five. 



240 ISABELLA COUXTV, illCHIGAX. 

It very soon became evident that they should form tliemselves in closer 
relations and on Tune 15. 1891. an organization was formed and charter 
taken bv fifteen of the parties who had identified themselves with the new 
movement. The first officers were as follows: Airs. Elizabeth Bamborough. 
Mrs Ida S. Dusenbuiy, Mrs. Anna S. Coutant, ^Nliss Emma L. Kent. Mrs. 
Mary L. Nelson. These officers were duly sworn and the organization com- 
pleted. They then called ]\Iiss E. R. Adams to he their pastor and thus was 
finished the letter of their organization, which is the first step toward the 
spiritual. 

Thev then found that they needed a church building and they finally 
selected and purchased the present site on the i8th day of July, 1907. The 
house and site was that of the residence of Richard Balmer. on Normal 
avenue, a central and convenient location. The residence was remodeled 
into a verv convenient and spacious church and is very prettily finished and 
decorated with beautiful windows, all showing good taste. 

In April, 1905, Miss Adams resigned on account of a rule laid down by 
the head of the church that the Bible and "Science and Health" was to be the 
only preacher that was necessary. 

On April 19, 1908, their Ijeautiful church was duly and reverently dedi- 
cated, Mr. Leonard, of the Christian Science board of lectureship, being 
present and conducting the impressive ceremonies. Mr. Leonard was one of 
the early adherents of the faith and reports that he belonged to the mother 
church in Boston when one hundred and seventy was considered a large 
congregation and when the services were held in the third story of a building; 
now he claims that there are churches in all climes of the universe. 

At the time of the dedication, W. H. Marsh was the first reader and 
Mrs, E, J, Van Leu\en held the position of second reader. They conduct 
their services without the aid of a preacher, the readers taking the place and 
one reading from the Bible and the other correlati\-e matter from "Science 
and Health." This church now possesses some of our most devout and 
worthv people and has made wonderful progress since its organization. It 
is claimed that this society is the first one formed and chartered in the state. 
They also keep up their Sunday school and are in a thriving condition. 

AN INDIAN PRAYER. 

In 1865 there was a preacher and teacher among the Indians of the 
reservation in Isaliella county by the name of E, G,. H. Meisler. He was a 
good scholar and understood the Ojibway language and for the purpose of 



isaufi.i.a county, micuigax. 241 

inaUiiig tlic Indians more familiar willi tlie Lord's Prayer lie translated it 
into the Indian language and gave it a poetical inter])retatiiiti as follows: 

O weosimigoion 
Gishigongeision " 
Bizindamawisliinang 
Enamisiangon. 

Apegishkidanozowin 
Kecliitw awendagwak 
Taishikichitwawendagwod 

Omaendanakijig 

Manotadagwisliinomagad 
Kitohimawiwin 
Jion Jikikenimikwa 
Akingendanakijig. 

Manogotaishidodom 

Kitinendamowin 

Omaakingeiaiang 

Tihishno gishigong 

lusa doshgemijiiang 
Minshisliinang nongom 
Kin sa wendiamawiiang 
Geoko nezeiang. 

Gasiamawishinang'na 
O Tebeningeion 
Kakinabataziwinon 
All Jesus Christ onji. 

Gegdibendagoziangon 
Moshkawiziishinang 
Jiwibuapangishinang 
Michidodamowining. 

Ishquaciikibagosenimigo 
O Tebeningeion 
Bim Jiishinangims 
^lachiaiiw ishing. 



242 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Kibishigendagoigo 
Kin Eshpendogoziian 
Kinmaetakitibendan 
lu ogimawiwin. 

Obin Bamatizitan 

Kagiganainigong 

Ima kitoginawieining 

Pundagasliishihiken. 

Tbus endeth the Lord's Prayer, AmeiL 

UNITARIAN CHURCH. 

A Unitarian church was organized in Octoljer, 1S81, with about twenty 
members. Rev. Conner had preacliedhere a few times and Rev. R. W. Savage 
had dehvered a course of lectures before the liberal people and had created 
quite a lively interest in the more liberal doctrine. For some time their meet- 
ings were held in the opera house. Discussion was had from time to time 
in regard to building a ciiurch building and was finally decided to undertake 
the task. The work was begun about February, 1883, and was completed 
about December of that year at a cost of three thousand dollars. 

It was formally dedicated about March, 1883, at a time when the Uni- 
tarian state conference was held at Mt. Pleasant. Rev. R. Connor, of Sag- 
inaw, preached the dedicatory sermon, assisted by Rev. T. B. Forbush, Rev. 
J. T. Sunderland, of Ann Arbor, Rev. George Stickney, of Grand Haven, 
Rev. Julius Blass, of Jackson, and Rev. F. E. Kitridge. the state Unitarian 
missionary of Michigan. Delegates were here from all of the Unitarian 
societies in Michigan save Kalamazoo. The church will seat about two hun- 
dred and has a parlor that can be thrown open and will seat about fifty more. 
In all it is a neat and pleasant little church. 

A. B. Upton was made president of the society, Hon. S. W. Hopkins, 
vice-president. Free Estee, secretary, and Hon. J. \X. Hance, treasurer. The 
executive committee was composed of William T. Whitney, John Eraser and 
V. F. Conlogue. In 1882 there was organized a Ladies' L'uion, the officers 
being Mrs. A. B. Upton, president : Mrs. J. J. Stoner, vice-president ; L. J. 
King, secretary, and Mrs. C. C. \\niitney, assistant secretary, with Mrs. W. 
W'oodburry as treasurer and for collectors, C. M. Brooks and J\Iiss Dennison. 

This society of ladies still continue and have been of inestimalile \alue 
to the church: much, if not all, of the time they have paid the running 
expenses of tlie church, save the minister's salary. 



ISAHICLLA COUNTV, MICHIGAN. 243 

This church lias had its varying experiences, about as other churches. 
Many of tlie old nieml)ers have died or moved from tiie town. A few vears 
ago the society adopted the name of the First Congregational church ui Mt. 
Pleasant and its present officers are. president. A. A. Borden: secretary, John 
Clark, and treasurer. Dr. A. T. Cictchel. The trustees are W'ilber E. Preston. 
A. T. tJetchel. A. .\. Borden, John Clark, H. Dingman and I. A. Fancher. 
The finance committee is composed of I. A. Fancher. S. W. Morrison and 
W. ]•'.. Lewis. The present officers of the Ladies' Uninn are Mrs. S. W. 
Morrisnn. president: Mrs. A. T. ("ictcheil, secretar\-, and .Mrs. .\. A. I'mrden 
treasurer. 

In tlie ciun-ch at the present time there are about si.xty members and 
since l\ev. II. \'an Ommeran severed his pa.storal connection they have had 
preaching but once each month. IMr. Van Ommeran was with the church 
five years and did heroic work: lie then left and took a church in Massa- 
chusetts and is liking it \ery much. TIr' puli)it is imw being supplied bv the 
Rev. B. F. Mills, of Traverse City. He is liked \ery much and may be induced 
to come to Mt. Pleasant and take charge of the church. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

CIVIC AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES MASONIC. 

The first lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, Lodge Xo. 288, was 
organized at Salt River about Januaiy 13, 1871. The first officers were 
Charles Merrill, worshipful master: Richard Hoy, senior warden, and Henry 
Struble, junior warden. The early organization emliraced most of the 
stanch men of that early settlement and has continued to hold them and has 
received many since its organization and is still flourishing. The charter 
members, as far as can be remembered, the records being lost, were Charles 
Merrill, John G. Zeigler, Richard Hoy, J. C. Conklin, Charles Puchart, 
Charles \Y. Sawyer, Henry Struble, Samuel Kennedy, W. T. Ross and I. 
X. Shepherd. The name given to the lodge was Salt River Lodge Xo. 288, 
Free and Accepted ^^lasons. This lodge has always been in a thriving con- 
dition and is still growing and in fine running order. 

The second organization of Masonic lodges was at ]\It. Pleasant in 1871. 
The charter members were A. Fox, William X''. Harris, ^^'illiam H. Gavvitt, 
fohn Maxwell, Isaac A. Fancher, Seth T. \\'orden. Charles E. Worden, 
lames Fockler, Delos Braman, A. B. Balcom, C. O. Curtis and H. M. Gilman. 
The first officers were Albert Fox, worshipful master; W. H. Gavvitt, senior 
warden: W. X'. Harris, junior warden: I. A. Fancher, treasurer: John Man- 
ners, secretary: L. J. Worden, senior deacon: Charles ^^'orden, junior dea- 
con: and A. B. Balcom, tyler. The lodge was named after an old and 
much beloved Indian chief, then li\-ing in the county, by the name of Wabon. 
the full name and title being Wabon Lodge Xo. 305, Free and Accepted 
Masons. This lodge has been one of the strongest and most popular lodges 
of northern Michigan, and has connected with its membership a large num- 
ber of the best business and professional men in the city. The lodge still 
retains its high standing and influence in the community. 

The past masters are as follows : Albert Fox. deceased : I. A. Fancher, 
George McDonald, William Starkweather, John Maxwell, Birt L. Parkhill. 

D. S. Partridge. W. R. Kennedy. W. A. Osborne, deceased: H. E. Deuel, 

E. I. \'an Leuven, William H. Lloyd, William W Sage and H. C. Dunlap. 

The following is a list of the members of the lodge at this date: 



ISAIilCI.I.A COINTV, MU I1I(;AN. 245 

riiineas Allen. Bliss A. Ali)ro. John T. All. W illiani Broonitield. Samuel 
Bemrose. Phidelius Bennett, Louis J. I'.urch, Augustus Borden. A. W. 
Balilke. J. H. Bedfisli. James W. Balmer, G. M. Baylis. R. L. Briggs. Charles 

E. Cole, George A. Chatterton, A. S. Coutant. Joiin J. Cowin. Frank B. 
Clark. Isaac N. Conrad. Charles A. Carnahan. A. Z. Campbell. Fred F. Con- 
saul. Walter P. Conrad. Edwin J. Cole. iMank (1. Clement. W. G. Crosby. 
Ernest T. Cameron. Isaac AI. Cook. Peter F. Dodds. I-Vancis H. Dodds. Ira 

F. Davis, H. Edward Deuel, John A. Dunn. Joseph L. Dickerson, Hemy C. 
Dulap, Homer Derr, James H. Dingman. Albert E. Ely, Charles ¥. Edgar, 
Ira E. Egleston, George C. Faulkner. I'rank J. Forrest, Thomas J. Fordyce, 
I. A. Fancher, Joseph A. Graham. Thomas Gray, Fred J. Graham. Hugh A. 
Crraham, George H. Gover, Hugh Ciraham, Arwin E. Gorham. Bert Grav, 
A. W. Graham. U. H. Gade, Bert M. Gould. Walter C. Getchel. J(jhn A. Har- 
ris. Charles H. Houck. Alexander Henderson. Cassius A. Harris. John Hath- 
away. \\'iniam M. Healy. I. R. Jamison. John Jackmaw. Harry E. Jeffrey. 
Timothy P. Jamison. \\ illiam R. Kennedy. l'>ed L. Keeler, E. Kerkpatrick. 
M. E. Kane. Oliver Keck, Jacob W. Kelder. A. A. Loveland. William H. 
Lloyd. Frank M. I^imb, C. S. Larzelere. Daniel E. Lyon. Thomas Lawrence. 
John Maxwell. Samuel Morrison. George McDonald. Lewis X. Marsh, John 
Meyer. Samuel May, John W. Morrison. Peter Morrison. Wallace H. Marsh, 
Robert !!. Mcl.aughlin. Charles I'". Owen, jnhn i'aiker, Frank D. Patter- 
son. Burt L. Parkhill, Loren C. Payne, Charles D. Pullen. I). A. Pease. 
Loren Post, L. E. Roycl, F. Rhodes, Charles T. Russell. F. W. Robinson. 
W. W. Riches. A. W. Reigel. Chester \\'. Riches. W. A. Starkweather. 
Thomas Sampson, William A. Smith, F. M. Smith. Paul Smith. William V. 
Sage. William A. Shackelford. Bruce C. Shorts. D. Trevegno. James L. 
Thorn. W. J. Taylor. C. F. Tambling. Frank G. Thiers. Robert E. Tubbs, 
W. W. Taylor, Edward Turner, E. J. Van Leuven, Buel H. Van Leuven. 

G. B. AX'hitney. E. L. Wells. Arthur Wright. Trum.ui Wynian. A. X. Ward, 
J. S. Weidman, F. S. \\'ood. Inan 1). Wallington, George Waterman. W. 
J. Walton. Charles F. Westman. and Jolni A. Wiley. 

ROVAI, ARCH MASONS. 

Mt. I'leasant Chapter Xo. iii. Royal Arch Masons, was organized 
February 4. 1884. under a dispensation granted them to work April 9. 1883. 
The charter members were Robert Laughlin, Mark F. Fasquelle. John R. 
Robinson. Silenus A. Simons. D. Scott Partridge, C. O. Curtis. P. F. Dixlds. 
E. F. McQueen. William A. Osborn. Cicero Kimball. 1. X. Shepherd. John 
Maxwell. Samuel Kennedy. Richard Hov. James 1>. Kenncdx. Ilenrv Struble. 



246 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

The first officers elected were the following: Robert Laughlin. higli priest; 
M. F. Fasquelle, king: John R. Robinson, scribe: S. A. Simons, treasurer: 
D. Scott Partridge, secretary: Charles O. Curtis, captain of the host: P. F. 
Dodds, principal sojourner: E. F. McQueen, royal arch captain: William A. 
Osborn, grand master of the third veil : C. Kimball, grand master of the 
second veil: John Maxwell, grand master of the first veil, and I. X. Shep- 
herd, sentinel. The first person to be initiated into the Imly mysteries of the 
Royal Arch was William T. \\'hitney. The lodge has been a prosperous body 
ever since its organization and still retains its prestige in the community, 
and numbers many of the most popular and successful citizens in the city. 
It not only comprises many of our successful business men. Ijut also of the 
professional fraternit}'. Doctors, lawyers, ministers, teachers and retired 
capitalists all seek the mystic rights of the fraternity. 

Their lodge rooms are centrally and pleasantly located, easy of access 
and as the blue lodge of Masons occupy the same rooms they have furnished 
them beautifully with everything that goes to beautify and adorn not only the 
halls but the work as well. Well may they entertain a modest pride in their 
fraternal and social surroundings. They enjoy a membership at the pres- 
ent time of about one hundred, but as all are graduated from the blue lodge 
it seems hardly necessary to give a list of their present members. 

ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR. 

We all recognize the fact that there are but few things that are really 
and genuinely enjoyed by the male fraternity that the female class are not 
also desirous of participating in, and so we find that after the establishment 
of these Masonic bodies, the ladies met and considered the advisability of 
their also establishing a fraternal association. It was finally decided to 
organize a chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star and a chapter was formed, 
to I>e known as the Mt. Pleasant Chapter No. 55. At present the officers 
are : Ellen V. Keene. worthy matron ; J. J. Cowen, worthy patron : Effie G. 
Graham, assistant matron : Florence N. Ward, secretary : Clara L. Pullen, 
treasurer ; Laura B. Taylor, conductress : Lettie Trevegne, assistant con- 
ductress : Ethel Taylor. Adah : Nettie A. Cowen. Ruth ; Mary D. Keen, 
Esther : Mabel Ferris, Martha : Nora L. Loveland. Electa : Rebecca Wells, 
warder : Samuel Bemrose, sentinel : S. Louisa Cowin, chaplain : Clarissa 
Marsh, marshal : Ella Parkhill, organist. 

The past matrons are A. Elizabeth Chatterton, Helen E. C. Balmer, 
Nora L. Loveland. Elizabeth Van Leuven. Minnie Leaman. Elva Reed and 



ISABELLA COLNTV, MICHIGAN. 247 

I'ldR'iuc X. W anl. and the past patruiis are II. Mdwarcl Deuel, (ieurgc Mc- 
Donald. Richard 1). Balnier. .\rthur S. Coutant. George A. Chatterton, and 
Edward L. Wells. 

The nitmher of the present menihershi]) is ahout one Innidred and twenty- 
live. The list of nieinliers shows that the organization contains many of the 
leading ladies of the city and bespeaks for them a delightful social and fra- 
ternal organization. 

MASONS AT WINN. 

The earliest records of Cedar Valley Lodge No. 383. Free and .Accepted 
Masons, at Dushville. now Winn, Isaijella coimty, Michigan, show that under 
date of July 2, 1886, Michael Schumaker. grand master of Masons of Mich- 
igan, afifi.xed his signature and seal to a dispensation empowering the follow- 
ing brothers, as charter members: John W. Curtiss. .\llen Keene. John 
Starkweather. David Moor, Marshall .\])bott. James Maxwell, Charles F. 
Curtiss. Thomas H. Lowe and Shurman D. Eldred. to meet and practice all 
the rights of ancient craft masonry. The above Masonic brothers continued 
to meet and work under the al)o\e mentioned dispensation until Januarv 26, 
1887. at which time tiie grand lodge of Michigan issued a charter, which 
created Cedar \'alley Lodge Xo. t,S^. Free and Accepted Masons. On March 
23. 1887. the most worshipful grand master. Reuphes C. Hathaway, did con- 
secrate and dedicate and install the tir.st regular ofticers. at which time Cedar 
Valley Lodge No. 383 assumed all the responsil)ilities and burdens incidental 
to a new lodge in a new and sparsely settled part of Isal)ella county. 

At this time the lodge occupied the .second story of a building at the 
east end of the village, and on the north side of Main street, owned by 
William A. Starkweather, which they continued to occupy until April 9, 
1890, when, by permission of the grand master, the lodge was moved to the 
hall owned by P. Allyan. at the west end of tiic \illage. where they remained 
until suitable rooms could be arranged for. At this time S. J. Ulam had a 
two-story building under construction, the lodge arranging to lease the upper 
story. After this building was completed and furnished. Past Grand Master 
Arthur M. Clark, acting grand ma.ster. did. on January i, 1891. duly dedi- 
cate this the third home for Cedar V^alley Lodge, where for seventeen years 
the fraternity peacefully labored in laying a foundation, broad and deep, 
which should later support her future fraternal and material edifice. 

In the early part of 1907 the meml)ers of Cedar Valley Lodge began to 
feel the need for more room, and piu'chased a location on block 2. according 
to the village plat, and perfected such arrangements that would e\entuallv 
enable the local body to erect and own. in fee simple, tiie proposed home. 



248 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

On August 28, 1907. the worsliipful master appointed a committee consisting 
of E. H. Allyn, Fred M. Sanderson and Burt M. Adams, to draft articles 
of association and do such ether duties as would be necessary to incorporate. 
So well did the above committee discharge their important duties that on 
January 7, 1908, the Masonic Temple Association of Winn. Michigan, held 
its first regular organized meeting and became a factor in securing worthy, 
more pretentious environments. The above meeting is worthy of more than a 
passing notice, for it was at that meeting that this small band of Masons 
assumed the burdens and responsibilities of erecting a temple of solid brick 
thirty-seven by eighty feet, and two stories high with basement, two store 
rooms on first floor. The entire second floor is used for Masonic purposes, and 
divided into seven rooms, consisting of lodge room, preparation room, ante- 
room, parlor, kitchen, dining room, and committee room. The entire build- 
ing is fitted with steam heat and the light is generated by an acetylene gas 
plant in the basement. 

On December 17, 1908, the most worshipful grand master, Herbert ^lon- 
tague, assisted by nearly all the grand lodge ofiicers, dedicated the new temple 
to Freemasonry, virtue and universal benevolence. 

The new temple cost eight thousand dollars, and the drawing of the 
material from ten to sixteen miles was a heavy burden on the membership, 
which was met with fortitude becoming Masons. And today they have the 
comfort and satisfaction of owning the first Masonic temple, entire from 
foundation to roof, in Isabella county. It is worthy of note that at no time 
has there ever been one cent against the temple, as all obligations have been 
assumed and carried by the membership. 

The Masons of Cedar Valley Lodge have been abundantly blessed. In the 
twentv-six years of its existence and of the ninety-five members that have 
from time to time belonged, but four have died, and only two of them initiated 
members, the other two having joined by dimits from other lodges. 

The first officers of Cedar Valley Lodge were: Hon. John W. Curtiss, 
worshipful master; Allen Keene, senior warden; John Starkw-eather, junior 
warden ; David K. Moor, treasurer ; Marshal F. Abbott, secretary ; James 
Manwell, senior deacon : Charles F. Curtiss, junior deacon; Thomas H. Lowe, 
tyler. 

The present officers are: Cassius J. Shenk, worshipful master; Henry 
L. Smith, senior warden; Charles A. Spicer, junior warden: David K. Moor, 
treasurer; S. J. Ulam, secretary; William Glen Osborn, senior deacon: Jacob 
Burher, junior (.leason ; ]\Iiles S. Fuller, tyler. 

The roster of past masters is : John W. Curtiss, three years ; Allen Keene, 



ISABELLA COLNTY. MK'HIGAN. J49 

seven years; John L. Rruluiker. one year; Jolm W. Crane, six years; Charles 
F. Curtiss, five years; Birt M. Adams, one year; Einlon A. Sanderson, two 
years. 

Tile first officers of the Masonic Temple association: John W. Crane, 
president; David K. Moor, treasurer; S. J. Ulam, secretary. The first hoard 
of trustees: John Delo, cliairnian, Ciiestcr J. I'crkins. C'lifford J. Abbott. 

The present nunihcr of members of tlie lodge is seventy. 

ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR. 

A chapter of the Order of the Ea.stern Star was established at Winn, 
Michigan, March i8, 1909. The charter members were Mrs. Maggie .\dams. 
Mrs. Lucy Lowe, Miss Alta Taylor, W'ilber X. Pier])ont, Mrs. Georgia T'ier- 
I)ont. Mrs. Almina Perkins, Mrs. Mary Kinney. Asa Delo. Eugene il. Alien. 
Mrs. Julia .Allyn. Cassius J. Shenk. Mrs. .Vila Shenk. Mrs. Emma Moor, Mrs. 
Li;^zie Xohl, Mrs. .\nna Hunt. Charles A. Spicer. John Keen. John W. Crane. 
Rufus C. Gifford. Mrs. Agnes Giflford. Miles S. Fuller, Mrs. Ola Fuller. Ger- 
ald S. Fuller. Mrs. Bertha Fuller. Mrs. Jennie Sullivan. 

The first officers elected were as follows: \\'ortiiy mtitron. .Mrs. 
Almina Perkins; wortiiy patron. W'ilber X. Pierjiont; associate matron, 
Mrs. Georgia Pierpont ; secretary, Mrs. Celia Delo; treasurer. Mrs. Julia 
Allvn; conductress. Mrs. Mamie Stutting; associate conductress, Mrs. Ellen 
Shenk; chaplain. Mrs. Maggie Adams; organist. Miss Esther OslK)m; .\dab. 
Mrs. \'ila Fuller; Ruth. Mrs. .\gnes (lift'ord; Esther. Mrs. Bertlia Fuller; 
Martha. Mrs. Mary Kiney ; Electa, Mrs. .Anna Hunt; warden. Mrs. Lucy 
Lowe ; sentinel. John S. Keen. 

This chapter is made up of most of the enterprising, energetic and social 
ladies and gentlemen in that community and they are exerting a mighty in- 
fluence for good social and fraternal feeling in the community, whicli is an 
element sorely needed in a village and country community. They have labore<l 
but a short time, but now numl)er some sixty-six memliers in good and 
regular standing. 

At their last annual election the following officers were elected and in- 
stalled: Worthy matron. Mrs. .\ima Perkins; worthy patron, (ierald 
Fuller; associate matron. Mrs. Georgia Pierpont; secretary. Mrs. Julia .\llyn ; 
treasurer. Mrs. Ellen Spicer; conductress, Mrs. Lillie Keen ; associate conduct- 
ress, Mrs. Bertha Fuller; chajjlain. Mrs. Maggie .\tlams; marshal. Miss .\lta 
Tavlor; organist. Mrs. Pearl lulmonds; .\(Ia. Mrs. \'iola I'-uller; Ruth. Mrs. 
.\gnes (iift'ord; Esther, Mr-;. Ellen Shenk; Martha, Mrs. Efl'a Delo; Electa, 
Mrs. Emma Fox; warden. Mrs. Martha Delo; sentinel. John S. Keen. 



250 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

WEIDMAN MASONIC LODGE. 

The village of Weidman also boasts of a first class lodge of the Free 
and Accepted Masons, which was organized in 1900. They own their own 
hall, have a membership of alxjut eighty and are growing all of the time. 
The}- are nicely located and take great pride in their work and are said to have 
some of the best workers in the county. John A. Cliff, Wilber Johnson, Floyd 
Mitchel and others of the same class of leading gentlemen make up the rank 
and file of the fraternity in that burg. 

INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS. 

The Odd Fellows organized at Mt. Pleasant. April 4, 1874. being Xo. 
217. The charter bears the name of G. \\\ Griggs as grand master and E. H. 
\Miitnev as grand secretarv. The charter members were James L. Sweeny, 
Albert Holmes. Martin K. Morse. Jared H. Doughty and John R. Doughty. 
The grand officers who instituted the lodge were : G. W. Griggs, grand 
master; Albert Earl, grand secretary; \\'. H. Ostrom, grand warden; W. W. 
Cook, grand marshal ; C. C. Hart, grand guardian ; H. W. Shaw, grand 
herald. The first elective officers were James L. Sweeny, noble grand ; Jared 
H. Doughty, \-ice-grand ; M. K. Morse, recording secretary, and John R. 
Doughty, treasurer. 

The lodge has gone through many ups and downs and has been burned 
out. having the charter burned, but they have kept on their feet and each time 
ha\e reju\enated the order and continued in their good work until they have 
brought the order to a high state of perfection in this city. They have in- 
creased in numbers from their small beginning of six charter members to about 
two hundred and fifteen members at this time. They have purchased a Iniild- 
ing. which was originally the Presbyterian church, which they purchased April 
I. 1907, of the Presbyterian society for two thousand dollars. 

The lot is centrally located, being nearly opposite the Bennett House. 
It makes a fine place for their meetings and they are able to accommodate 
other societies, such as the Grand Army organization, the Sal\-ation Army 
and such others as need a place for a gathering for social and fraternal ])ur- 
poses and for suppers and lectures. 

The order is highly appreciated by its members as a social and fraternal 
organization. It numbers among its members many of the best and most 
prosperous business men. as well as men in the various professions, such as 
doctors, lawyers, dentists, teachers and ministers, in fact it is a good and 



ISABELLA COL'XTV. MICHICAN. 25I 

proper place for any aiul all good men that enjoy social meetings and feel that 
they wtnild like to do some good in the \v()rld antl make society better and more 
nohle for their having l>een here and mingled with strnggling huni;niit\-. All 
this and more they are doing. 

There is also an encampment, as well as a Rehekah lodge, who meet in 
the same building. 

This lodge has also been honored liy having one of its members electerl 
to an honorable ot¥ice in the grand body of the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, ^\'illiam R. Kennedy, who was in 1908-9 elected to be grand master 
of the grand lodge. 

The present ofificers of the home lodge are: A. C. Crapo, noble grand: 

F. L. Klunsinger, vice-grand: Charles 1). Rrown, recording secretary; W. C. 
Perry, financial secretary: H. H. Hinilei. treasurer, with C. L. Patee, past 
grand. 

In 1874 at old Salt River was established an Odd b'ellows lodge. The 
charter was given October 5th of that year and they commenced w ith a goodly 
number of members and have been in a nice condition e\er since and are now 
enjoying a degree of prosperity. Their number is 239 and is called Co€ 
Lodge. 

The charter members were: Thomas .\ustin. mible grand: j. M. R. Kcn- 
nery, vice-graml : S. (j. Leonard, secretary: Henry Struble, treasurer: Samuel 
Kennedy, Lester W'ilsey. Philander Childs. A. F. Swan and William .\. Smith. 
Allen E. Clark is the present noble grand, and sends these minutes. They 
are in a good thriving condition, are having good attendance and are growing 
with the growth i>f their pretty and substantial village. 

WIXX ODDFELLOWSHIP. 

Cedar Ridge Lodge Xo. 540, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at 
Winn. Isabella county, Michigan, was organized July 22, 1908. Its charter 
members were lohn Henderson. William L. Delo. Lester Briggs. Walter Ci. 
Starkweather Le\i L^nderwood. Fred C. Gifford, Lindly T. Booth, John 
Malish, Frederick Delo, Delliert D. Richardson. Charles Riggle, John Fox, 
George Russell. Percy T. Spicer. Clifford J. Abbott, sixteen in all. The first 
officers were Lester Briggs, noble grand: Charles Riggle. vice-grand, and W. 

G. Starkweather, secretary and treasurer. 

The lodge is a strong and growing institution, having grown from six- 
teen charter members to a lodge of seventy-six members, and is still increas- 
ing IxHh in membership and in influence in the community. They have and 



252 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

mav well feel a just pride in the fact that their lodge is made up of a large 
per cent, of the stanch and thrifty men in the community, and the lodge gives 
them an opportunity to meet together and become more social and cultivate 
a stronger spirit of brotherly love and a kindlier spirit toward one another 
and the race generally. Long may they have the privilege, of their social 
meetings. 

The present officers are John Henderson, noble grand; Thomas Sand- 
brook, vice-grand ; Clinton Cazatt, recording secretary ; Clift'ord J- Abbott, 
financial secretary: Ward Foglesong, treasurer. The lodge have their meet- 
ing place in the hall of S. ]. Ulam, and meet on Thursday evening. 

BLANCHARD LODGE. 

Blanchard has a lodge of Odd Fellows, established in 1903. They are 
as prosperous and substantial as any in the county, numbering at the present 
time one hundred and seventeen members, with Henry Moke as noble grand ; 
George Wood, vice-grand : E. Allen, financial secretary. This lodge is on the 
high road to success. They have built and own their hall, which is twenty- 
six by eighty feet and two stories high, costing about four thousand dollars, 
nearlv all paid for. The society occupy the upper story and the lower story 
is an opera house. 

The charter members were as follows : Fred Standish, Jay Rogers, New- 
man Fitzgerald, Claud Rogers. W. H. Shepherd, E. W. Reeder, Henry ]\Ioke, 
N. C. Mason, Riley King. Frank Garrison and Amos Dixon. 

D.\UGHTERS OF REBEKAH. 

There was a Rebekah lodge organized at \\inn, formerly Dushville. on 
.\pril 2, 1909. bv Hannah Bailarge. with ten charter members, and the name 
Locust was given it by Sabia Gifford. To be precise, the name and number 
were Locust Rebekah Lodge No. 226. The charter members were Jennie 
Sullivan, Emily Smith, Sabia Gififord, Pearl Edmonds, .Almira Perkins. Walter 
Smith. Fred Gifford, William Edmonds, Walter G. Starkweather. The first 
officers were Sabia Gifford, noble grand : Pearl Edmonds, vice-grand : W. G. 
Starkweather, secretary ; Emily Smith, treasurer ; Almina Perkins, right sup- 
porter of the noble grand : J. W. McNutt, left supporter of the noble grand ; 
Lottie Gififord. warden; ]\Iamie Stutting, conductor; Wallace Richardson, 
inner guard ; Walter Smith, outer guard ; Catherine Haas, chaplain, with Olive 
Foglesong, right supporter of vice-grand, and Pearl Barden as left supporter of 



ISABEI.l.A COINTV. MICHIGAN. 253 

vice-graiul. This lodge has prospered wonderfully well and now miml^ers 
one hundred meml)ers. Their present officers are: Xoble grand, Ola Fuller; 
vice-grand, Effie Caszatt ; secretary, Sadie Gifford ; treasurer, Emily Smith ; 
right supporter of the noble grand, Delia Starkweather; left supporter of the 
noble grand. Almina Perkins ; warden, L(Jttie Gifford. 

At Brinton, about twenty-two years ago. there was established on Odd 
Fellows lodge which fnr some time was a ourishing institulidU. The origi- 
nal was named Silver Link and Doctor Worden was largely instrumental in 
getting it started. It flourished until at one time it had about one hundred 
and thirty-one members, but since the village has declined somewhat it has 
iiad an effect upon the number of lodge members, yet it is doing good work 
at the present time and numbers about fifty members. The present officers 
are: Edgar Robert, noble grand: John Fitch, vice-grand; H. V. Koble, secre- 
tan,- ; S. Atchinson, financial secretary ; Henry Rogers, treasurer. 

In 1906, at Rosebush, a lodge of Odd Fellows was organized with about 
sixty members, with F. G. House as noble grand. D. Mussel, vice-grand, and 
John House, secretary. It is a strong and active organization and is doing 
goofl work, increasing in membership and in the good intluence it exerts in 
the community. 

At W'eidman they have a first-class lodge of the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, which is in a very prosperous and fine working condition. Thev 
own their own hall and ha\e their sessions regularly, doing good w<irk and 
satisfying their membership It is one of the best of the fraternal organiza- 
tions. 

KNIGHTS OF THE M .^CC.VBKES. 

Another of the orders that is calculated to promote friendship and Ijrother- 
ly love, known as the Knights of the Maccabees, was duly organized on the 
17th day of March, 1884. This is also a mutual relief society, and has been of 
inestimable value to a large number of our citizens by the payment to the 
bereaved families of decea.sed Maccabees when the hand of affliction has 
fallen heavily on the dependent family at their jjrotector's death, of the 
amount for wliicli the member, when li\ing. liad pi-ovided for the assistance 
of his family. It is a worthy organization and has l)y its promptness and 
dispatch rclic\ed many a worthy family from suffering and distress in time 
of trouble. 

The officers of the first organization were: F. H. T\ler, past commander: 
Charles T. Russell, commander: \'. F. Conlogue, lieutenant; Fred Russell, 
record keeper: F. \\'. Ix.ilph. finance keeper: W. C. Dusenbury. prelate: F. H. 



2^4 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Tvler, physician: J. J- Kitchen, serg-eant; J. B. Van Fossen. master at arms; 

0. W. Stebbins. first master of guard; F. E. Prince, second master of guard; 

1. L. Swan, sentinel, and W. R. Sturgis, picket. 

The organization flourished for some years until they numbered some 
four hundred members. They now number about three hundred and eleven 
members, and the present officers are : \'ern \'an W'ie, commander ; George W. 
Leuvov, lieutenant commander: \\'illiam O. Barz, record keeper: W. A. 
Chatterton. finance keeper : Earnest D. Ford, sergeant. 

Thev hold their meetings in the Commercial block, and meet each week. 
The numbers have fallen off some for a short time back on account of quite 
a number of the members having arrived at the age of seventy, when they 
are entitled to draw ten per cent, per year on their policy and there seems to 
be a fear that the monthly rate or dues will increase. They can also draw 
for disabilities and as the age increases there is more of that. Then about a 
year ago the Lady Maccabees increased their rate and many dropped out on 
that account. These are questions that the Knights will have to meet. 

One was organized at Leaton numbered 538, with Charles E. Cole as 
commander, Thomas B. Snowden, record keeper, and with a goodly number 
of members. This tent was afterward disbanded and they with one or tv^-o 
other small tents went into the organization at Rosebush. 

On April 8, 1893, one was started at Vernon, kno\\n as the Russell Tent 
No. 727. They flourished for a time and built a hall, but afterward the in- 
terest in the matter flagged, the hall was sold and moved away and now 
there is no organization kept up. 

Tent Xo. 306. of the Knights of the Maccabees, was organized at Sher- 
man City, the organization being effected May 29, 1895. Edward P. Strong 
was commander. Grant M. Lyon, record keeper, and filed October 28, 1895. 
This tent is kept up and is in a fairly prosperous condition, having at this 
time about forty members. 

.\nother was started at the village of Brinton and was a li\e tent for 
some time and then it ceased to keep up its interest and finally ceased to e.xist. 

Eldorado Tent Xo. 559, Knights of the ^Maccabees, was organized at 
Calkinsville February 22, 1898. They own their hall, have about one hun- 
dred and twelve members and are in a prosperous condition. Their present 
chief officers are George F. Bayless, commander : William M. Hovey, secre- 
tary and treasurer. 

They also have at this place a Ladies of the Maccabees lodge with a good 
membership. They too are in a prosperous and thri\-ing condition, and the 
order is quite popular. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 255 

At Caldwell, about twenty years ago, a lodge was formed. They own 
tlicir iiall. wiiich cost sonietliiiig like eigiit hundred dollars. Tliey are 
in a flourishing condition, witii alioni iliirty-live members, with Thomas 
Hogg as commander, Rurt Bozer. record keeper, and V. K. Phillips as finance 
keeper. 

At Blanchard. in 1904, tliere was a Ladies" Tent of Maccabees organized. 
Mrs. E. Allen is commander and Mrs. Charles Robertson, Mrs. Bragg anil 
]\Irs. Scott are among the influential nienihers. They have a nice social and 
fraternal set of members and now number sixty-four. They are in a most 
prosperous condition and are proud of their society, as well they may be. 

There is also a regular Maccabee tent at Blanchartl. It was organized 
some time ago and is still doing business. 

At \\'inn the Maccabees organized, in 1891, Tent Xo. 524. with J. W. 
Crane, commander; Robert Brown, record keeper: Fred Delo, finance keeper. 
They have now some fifty members and Lester Briggs is commander, W. W". 
Dickerson, finance keeper, and are in a prosperous condition. 

The Lady Maccabees have also a tent with Mrs. ^^^ X. Pierpont as 
commander: Mrs. Henry C'urtis. finance keeper: Mrs. John Taylor, record 
keeper. They have a tent of thirty-five members and own the hall, which cost 
them about five hundred dollars. They are in fine condition and embrace 
some of the leading ladies of the village and vicinity. They feel justly proud 
that the\' own their hall and are in good working order. 

At Shepherd a Maccabee tent was formed some years ago. and for a 
time was in a flourishing condition. Some changes in the amount of dues 
has created some lukewannness in many of the tents and they are not so 
prosperous. 

There is a lodge of Maccabees at W'eidman, organized some years ago, 
and composed of such men as (leorge Drallette, George C. Fisher. Charles 
Pierce. Mr. Schauppner, Charles Carr, Charles Buitler, .\dam Scott and 
others. They have been in a good working order for some time and have a 
large membership for a place of the size of Weidman, and are now numljer- 
ing something like one hundred meml)ers. There was also a Ladies' tent. Init 
they have allowed their charter to lapse and are no longer an organization. 

GLEANERS. 

.\ Gleaner organization was established in Lincoln township, at Craw- 
ford, something like si.xteen years ago, and has continued and prosjjered ever 
since, and at the present time they have about one hundred members, with 



256 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Roy Proudly as chief gleaner. They are a fraternal and mutual ijenefit asso- 
ciation and are at the present one of the most popular and most-sought-after 
organizations in the county and state. This organization owns its own hall. 
which cost ablaut eight hundred dollars, and is in all respects prosperous 
and happy. 

There is also another in this town located at the Baptist church on sec- 
tion 30, organized December 29, 1896, and numbered seventy-one, and having 
at the present time some one hundred members, with Melvin Castle, David 
Bush and others as leaders. This one also owns its hall and is doing a pros- 
perous business. 

At Blanchard, in Rolland township, there is a Gleaner organization. 
These use the Odd Fellows hall. Their lodge is in good condition, being a 
combination of some smaller lodges which combined, so that now this one 
combines all of the smaller ones and has some good men, such as Shaw 
Lawrence. A. ^Miller and others. The organization was perfected August 14, 
1 90c and the charter members were Anthony Miller. Elmer Compson. Ed. 
Sheels, Edmond Miller, Alonzo Allen, Lawrence ]\Iiller and Maggie Mill- 
brook. 

.\ liidge of Gleaners was established in Broomtield, on section j8. in 
1905. It has about fifty members and is doing well. 

In Deerfiekl township a lodge was established at Deerfield Center. John 
Ash is chief gleaner and H. E. Wood is secretary and treasurer. They use 
the town hall for their place of meeting. 

.\. Gleaners arbor. No. 197, was organized in Chippewa in 1896. The 
chief movers were Frank Crego, Frank Hardgrove, George Richmond, M. P. 
Kern, N. D. ^Montgomery, ^\'alter \\'ing, Richard Hoy, George Merrill. 
Thev bought the Landon cheese factory and remodeled it into a hall suitable 
and convenient for their purposes : they still own the hall. They have been 
very prosperous and now number something like one hundred and sixty 
members, with FIar\ey Johnson as chief gleaner; X D. Montgomery, \ice- 
chief gleaner; Minty \\"iImot, chaplain; Albert Halsted, secretaiy and treas- 
urer; Edward Andrews, conductor; R. M. Merrill, conductress; Fred Smith. 
lecturer ; Leon Wilmot, inner guard, and Charles Francis, outer guard. 

There are Gleaners also in Denver township. An arbor was established 
at Delwin some years ago and has now about sixty members, and J. E. Smith 
is chief gleaner and J. H. Jorden, secretar}^ and treasurer. They are doing 
good work and getting ahead. 

The Gleaners of Coldwater township organized about five years ago. 
The\- hold their meetings at private dwellings. Cecil Allen and Grant Harper 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 2e^J 

are the main parties in the order and are doing inncli to enlarge ami make it 
a success. 

Gleaners organized in 1898 in Ciilmore with thirteen memljers, and they 
now have about seventy-five. Their headquarters is at the ni^rtlnvest corner 
of section 22. near the Baptist church. They are in good working order with 
fine pro.spects for the future. G. A. Pitts is chief gleaner and John Sifton 
is secretary and treasurer. 

In Vernon tiiere is a lodge located at Little's, on section 28. It was 
ciiartcred on the 14th of February, 1897, and is numl)ered 283. XVilliam 
Page is chief gleaner and Jessie K. Turbush is one of the princijjal gleaners. 

There is also one in Wise townshi]) ;ui<l their hall is located on section 21. 

The Gleaners of Shepherd were organized in December, 1908. The 
chief gleaner was Raymond Clark ; vice-gleaner, Charles \\'ilsey, and James 
Wood, secretary and treasurer. They started with about si.xty members, 
which they have increased to about one hundred ;ind lifty or more. Their 
first chaplain was Mrs. Clifford Childs. They are a very prosperous and 
strong organization and are reaping some benefit out of the relation on 
account of being able, as farmers, to purchase their binding twine at about 
one-half of what they had to pay as simple farmers. .\nd as no one not a 
farmer can hold oftice it gives the farmer a strong lead and is (piite an in- 
ducement for those who are eligible to unite with the fraternity. 

They meet twice each month for a good social as well as business pur- 
pose and time. .\t present their chief officers are: Chief gleaner, Jessie 
Childs: \ice-gleancr. Stewaid Curtis; secretary and treasiu'er, James Wood, 
and for chaplain, Mamie FJest. Most of the members carry aliout one thou- 
sand dollars insurance, that being the limit ordinarily, although under cer- 
tain conditions some may take two thousand dollars. Their principal pur- 
pose, outside of insurance, is the social feature and that the\- all enjoy and 
their interests seems to continue, as their meetings are all well attended and 
very much enjoyed. 

There is also one at the village of Coe, started about the same time of 
the others. Tt has a fine list of members and is doing good work and fully 
meeting the expectations of all who have joined. The Gleaners are generally 
claiming that it is a s])lendid organization and is giving its patrons splendid 
returns for their money and time, not only in a .social manner, but also in 
financial results. 

GOLD RESERVE AS.SOCIATIOX. 

The Gold Reserve was organized May 29. 1901. under and by virtue of 
the statute for the organization of fraternal societies. The c^fficers at its 
07) 



258 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

organization were : Michael E. Kane, president : Fred Russell, secretary, and 
George A. Dusenbury, treasurer. They have now been in business nearly 
ten years and have grown from a new and untried beginning to a member- 
ship of three thousand one hundred members and have assets to the amount 
of thirty thousand dollars. This is surely a good showing and with such an 
increase in business and the standing and responsibility of those in charge 
is a good guaranty that everything will be conducted upon strict principles 
of business and social integrity. The present officers are M. E. Kane, presi- 
dent ; C. \\'. Campbell, secretary, and Fred Russell, vice-president and treas- 
urer. 

ELKS. 

A lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was, on July 
18, 1909, granted a charter, on the application of the following brothers: 
Josiah Harper, Chester A. Kellogg, Ivan Wallington, Harry G. Miller, J. .•X. 
Swan. Edward J. Diittmann and Fred F. De Foe, the lodge to be known as 
the Mt. Pleasant Lodge No. 1164, and to hold its sessions in Mt. Pleasant, 
Michigan. The charter members were R. A. Cockran, Roy S. Falk, Ellis 
Faint, D. Travegno, J. H. Campbell. F. J. Seibel, P. E. Richmond. Earl 
Miller. John W. Benford, Roy S. Dean, Wells B. Brown, Marion Smith, T. 
R. Dougherty, E. T. Cameron, H. W. Coddington. F. S. Klunsinger. F. F. 
Vandercook, Edward O. Harris. Robert P. Ward. James E. Johnson, F. G. 
Clement. W. A. Dion, J. F. McNutt, Charles E. Hagan. Robert 'SI. Hidey. 
Bert Sook, F.^ank C. Crego, Charles A. Carnahan, P. T. Johnson. A. E. 
Gorham. The trustees were Herbert A. Foster. H. E. Chatterton and L. N. 
Marsh. Chester N. Riches, esquire ; Howard D. Jeffords, junior guard, and 
B. I\I. Gould, chaplain. The officers elected were : Jasper Harper, exalted 
ruler; Chester A. Kellogg, leading knight; Ivin Wallington, loyal knight; 
Harry Miller, lecturing knight; L H. Swan, secretary, and E. J. Diittmann, 
treasurer. 

The Elks are very largely a social organization, and it is intended that 
they shall have a place to meet for recreation as well as for reading and also 
a place for those that are fond of games and want a quiet place of their own 
where they can go for play at billiards or pool for the rest and relaxation 
that they so much need after iDeing in the office or store all day at hard work. 
They have rented rooms on the second floor of three stores and have fitted 
them up, a ])art for a dining room and kitchen. o\er another store a billiard 
and pool room, for those who are fond of games, and over another a sitting 
room, cloak room and other accommodations, and the\' surelv ha\e a fine lut 



ISABELLA COLNTV, MICHIGAN. 259 

of members and a fine place for their meetings. They have increased their 
numbers to one hundred fifty-five and are still building up the lodge. They 
now number among their numl)er a very large per cent, of the business men, 
bankers, clerks, office men. witii a sprinkling of clergymen, and in fact they 
embrace a good many of the real good fellows of the city. 1 hey are \ery 
thoughtful and considerate of the wives and families and are entitled to a 
good deal of credit for what they have done and are doing for some of the 
families that have met uitli l)ereavement and that will appreciate the interest 
taken in them on account of the fact that iJieir faiuily was numbered anmng 
the members of this exalted order of Elks. 

The present ofiicers are: C. A. Kellogg, exalted ruler: l\in W allington, 
leading knight; Harry Miller, loyal knight: Mart Manery. lecturing knight: 
\\'. B. Brown, esquire: J. A. Swan, secretary; E. J. Diittmann. treasurer; 
F. E. \'andercook, inner guard; A. Z. Campbell, tiler: trustees. II. E. Chat- 
terton, L. N. Marsh and C. T. Russell. 

Long may they live to carry out their benevolent and social objects for 
which thev were organized. 

KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS. 

The Knights of Pythias was organized in Mt. Pleasant about March, 
1886. with a goodly number of charter members, some of whom were H. H. 
Graves, William Pickard, William T. Whitney, P. Gardner and others. They 
are strictly a fraternal society and ha\e in former days been one of the most 
sought- for of all such organizations, and this lodge has numbered as high 
as one hundred fifty at a time. Of late years they have not been quite as 
prominent, other fraternal organizations having taken the lead. This lodge 
was at one time the finest in the state and when in marching order the first 
four ranks of four each weighed over four hundretl pounds each, and their 
Uniform Rank numbered about si.xty members. They were the organization 
selected to lay tlie corner stone of the Central Normal School and were 
highly praised for their efficiency and general work. They still number 
about eighty members and, while they have been selling off their club furni- 
ture, they yet retain their lodge furniture and expect to take up their resi- 
dence as a lodge in the building of the Odd Fellows. Their pre.sent officers 
are: Fred Russell, chancellor commander: Prof J. W. Kelder. vice-clian- 
cellor- Harry Hudson, kecjjer of the records: W. W. Cox. ma.ster of finance. 
.\. M. Dayton was their captain. 



2C0 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

MODERN WOODMEN OF AMERICA. 

This organization was perfected at Blanchard Fel>ruary lo. 1908, with 
the following as charter members: Earnest Gulp, George Christorphenson. 
Clarence Stafford, Albert Tate, Joseph Fate, Edward Houghton. Carl Mason, 
Nathan Munn. Chester ^McDonald, C. J. Nohlas, Arthur Puryljery, O. J. Rey- 
nolds. Jessie Robert, J. A. Ramey, Earl Swayze, Vern Russell, H. M. Swift, 
William A. Walker, Leuten Stafford. William F. Wood. Doctor Watley, 
This list of names gives to the village of Blanchard and vicinity a strong 
organization and one that is making good in the fraternal work they have 
entered upon, and, barring unforseen stumbling blocks, should continue for 
nianv years to come and prosper in their good works. 

They also have at Blanchard, beside the above, a camp of Royal 
Neighbors of America, organized March 4, 1909. with sixteen charter mem- 
bers, as follows: Mrs. C. Holbrook. Mrs. Leo Aldrich. Mrs. F.. Meyers, Mrs. 
E. Crawford, Mrs. H. Luimell, Mrs. E. Robinson, Airs. George Kimball, 
Mrs. M. Konkle, Mrs. N. Hotchkiss. Miss June Hill, Mrs. Leola Ayers. Mrs. 
J. Metz, Mrs. C. McDonald, Mrs. Judd Morgan and Mrs. William Snyder. 
This is called Rolland Camp No. 5561. 

NATIONAL PROTECTIVE LEGION. 

Blanchard has also a National Protective Legion, organized December 
II, 1906, with the following charter members: Neuman Smith. Tom Scott. 
Morris High, Kate Dagle, Leumie Engle. Charles Sanders, Elizabeth Robin- 
son, Minerva Scott, Ralph Sanders, James A. Engle. 

The list of names of the charter members of the last two organizations 
ought to inspire confidence with any one who desires to become a member 
of either of the lodges. It is a sure index that they will accomplish whate\er 
they undertake. 

COURT OF HONOR. 

A Court of Honor. Chippewa District No. 41, was organized at Mt. 
Pleasant about 1890. They are also a fraternal and insurance organization. 
This society has been an active and prosperous one up to the present time. 
It commenced with a limited number of charter members and has steadily 
increased until now thev number al)out one hundred fifty memliers in good 
standing. This sucietv accepts ladies to their nieml)ership antl tlie\' meet at 



ISABELLA COUNTV, MKIIIGAX. 261 

tlie Odil Fellows' hall every two weeks, on Muiulav evenings. The present 
principal officers are : Charles Reen, chancellor ; A. W. Bush, past chancellor ; 
Mrs. Thomas Dougherty, vice-chancellor: Mrs. Kittie Reen. chaplain; J. L. 
Crittenden, recorder, and Jessie Sheldon, conductor. 

Their meetings are well attended and they are having a \ery nice social 
time at their gatherings and arc also privileged to take out insurance and are 
able to carry the same at a reasonable cost. Tlicy are all pleased with it and 
hope to continue. 

KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS. 

>Jt. Pleasant Council Xo. 1297, Knights of Columbus, was duly organ- 
ized on the 9th day of February, 1908, with about seventy charter mem- 
bers. The first officers were: Grand knight. Dr. James McEntee; deputy 
grand^ knight, Frank Keenan ; recording secretary, P. Cory Taylor: financial 
secretary. William F. ^IcDonald; warden. M. J. McCue: chancellor, J. Harry 
Kane: trustees. P. Breidenstein. James E. Joiin.son and H. F. Hoffman. 

This is a fraternal, social, insurance and charitable organization, its 
membership being confined to the memljershi]) of their ])articular church. 
They can take out insurance for sums of one thousand, two thousand or three 
thousand dollars, according to circumstances, and those wiio ha\e taken ad- 
vantage of that feature number now about si.xtv. 

The order has grown wonderfully since it first started, so that at tlie 
present time they have about one iuindred si.xty-five members and others 
have applied for admission. The present officers are : Grand knight, Frank 
A. Sweeny: deputy grand knight. William O. Bartz : recording secretary, P. 
L. McFarland : financial secretary, \\'. J. Somer\iIle: warden, Hugh Mur- 
phy: chancellor. J. Harry Kane: trustees, James Johnson. John Johnson and 
James F. O'Brien, with H. F. Hoffman as lecturer. 

This is a strong and growing organization and one that is entitled to 
the good will of all, as the objects of its being are to be cherished as some- 
thing worthy of respect and encouragement. Their social meetings are to 
be recommended as bringing the members more in touch with each other 
and the charitalile proposition can not be too highly recommended ;uid that. 
with the insurance, which is intended to pro\ide for that rainy day tJiat so 
often comes, that too is to be recommended. 

ISABKM.A fOlNTV lir.M.V.NIC SOCIKTV. 

The Isal)ella County Humane Society was organized March 9, 190^- •'""' 
incorporated under Act 171 of the laws of 1903, Its purposes or objects, as 



262 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Stated in tlie articles of incorporation, are "The impressing and diffnsing of 
the principles of humanity and mercy and the enforcement of laws for the 
prevention and punishment of cruelty to children and animals, birds and 
fowls." The term of its corporate life was fixed at thirty years. The fol- 
lowing named persons joined in incorporating the society : W. E. Preston, 
Marilla J. Preston, H. Van Ommeren, Mrs. H. Van Ommeren, N. J. Brown, 
Ferris Holcolm, Amanda Decker Holcolm, Susie L. Chatterton, Ella Potter, 
A. S. Coutant, A. T. Getchell, Ella Getchell, Nora L. Loveland, May L. 
Sherman, Augustus Borden and Mary E. Borden. The following named 
persons have joined the society by subscribing to its by-laws since the incor- 
poration of the society : W. F. Newberry, C. F. Tambling, W. E. Lewis, L A. 
Fancher. J. W. Hance, B. M. Gould, W. O. Hullinger, Minnie I. Termaat, F. 
H. Dodds, Charles Coddington, Charles Slater, Kate Feeney, C. S. Larzalere, 
Edna M. Bouton, Palmer Landon, Virginia Westlake and Mrs. Ross San- 
ford. The first election of officers of the society occurred March 28, when 
W. E. Preston was chosen president, Nora L. Loveland, vice-president, A. 
S. Coutant, secretary, and H. Van Ommeren, treasurer. 

During the short life of this society man\- cases of cruelty to children 
and to animals have been brought into court by its officers and received pun- 
ishment, many cases of cruelty and distress have been relieved without bring- 
ing the matters into court, and a marked dimunition of the number of in- 
stances of cruelty is noticeable since offenders became aware that this society 
existed and its officers prepared to enforce the law governing offenses of the 
kind. The date for holding the annual meetings of the society is fixed at 
the first Monday in March of each year. W. E. Preston is the present presi- 
dent of the society and the office of the society is at his offices in the Commer- 
cial Bank building, ]Mt. Plecsant. 



CH.\rTi:R x\i[. 

MANUFACTURES VALUE OF ORIGIXAI, FORESTS. 

This would certainly he a most interesting^ chapter if we were able to 
portray the country just as it was in 1854 when the first white settler set 
foot on Isabella soil. It was then an unknown and unbroken wilderness of 
timber, not one acre of [)rairie and but a \ery few acres of niarsli land. It 
was all timber and a large amount of it was densely covered with the original 
forests. Xot a stick had been cut for any [)urpose. not even a trail through 
the woods. We have known a single forty-acre lot to have as high as two 
million feet of timber on it. 

Many of the first saw mills were small mills intended only for the local 
needs of the farmer, not dreaming of what \alue the timber would be in the 
fiUurc. I low little the farmer realized in those days what the result of his 
cutting down and burning up the timber on his land was to ha\-e upon the 
value of the land. 

The first mill was locattd on the Salt ri\er just l)elow Salt River village. 
It was a small one and ne\er cut any lumber for s]ii])nK'nt. Tlie one built 
at Isabella City was of the same stamp, they being a combination of saw 
and grist mill. The.se were built about 1857, and in 1867 there was one 
built at Mt Pleasant by Hajjner Brothers, and in 1868 Lamb & Tracv built 
one in Mt. Pleasant, but it remained but a short time. Tliere was also one 
built by Samuel Kennedy in an early day about one mile south of Salt river 
and contiiuied for a number of years and one in the town of Lincoln by J. 
Darrow . wliicb remained for a number of years. Then there was one. called 
Beckley's mill, in Rolland, with one on section 30 and one on section 26 in 
Fremont. 

Most of the early ones were water power mills, but some of them were 
steam. There were two at Duslnille, both steam, one of which blew up. 
and there is a saw and shingle mill there now, but the timber is mostly e.x- 
hausted so that there is not much for it to do. There were also in Lincoln 
one on the old Hance farm, on section 25. and one owned by J. M. R. Ken- 
ncdv on section i t. 



264 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

In Deerfield there was one just south of Caldwell and one on section 
II. In Nottawa there is one at Beal City, and there was one some years ago 
at Vandecar, which was torn down and removed from the county. 

In the township of Gilmore there was one located on section 27, which 
was a good deal of a convenience on account of being some distance from 
the railroad or any lumber market except the home market. 

In 1868 Henry Wooden came to the county and settled on tlie Chippewa 
in the township of Sherman and built a saw and grist mill combined, which 
was run by water power. This mill is still standing, but is largely out of 
commission. There was also one built at Shoards. about one mile up the 
river, and another in an early day at Sherman City ; this one only lasted for 
a short time and then was put out of commission. 

There were some others scattered about the count}- that remained for a 
time and then were removed to some other place until now there are onlv a 
ver}' few of the original that were built and operated for the benefit of the 
local community. 

Of those that were built to cut lumber for shipment was the one built 
by Wise & Loomis at the \illage of Loomis and operated for several years. 
This mill shipped most of its lumber and shingles. It proljably cut some 
50,000.000 million feet of lumber and about the same in shingles. .At Wise 
was the Richmond & Feeney mill that cut lumber and shingles. 

Wilson Brothers were located for several years in the township of Ver- 
non and operated a saw and shingle mill. The}- cut aliout 50.000.000 feet of 
lumber and some 50,000,00 of shingles. 

The Mt. Pleasant mill cut some 60,000,000 feet of lumber and the one 
built at Bundy to cut out tlie tract of timber purchased of Edmond Hall by 
the Bundy Company, manufactured about 75,000,000 feet and the one built 
by John S. Weidman at ^^'eidman. manufactured 140,000,000 feet of lumber 
of all kinds and about 100,000,000 of shingles. 

There was a mill built at Blanchard about the time that the railroad was 
built through that place and was located on a branch of the Pine river. This 
mill cut nut about 150.000,000 feet of lumber and was one of the best of the 
mills in the county, as it had a location that could rely upon a good supply of 
pine timber. 

There was manufactured by all of the mills for shipment not less than 
550,000,000 feet of lumber during the time that the timber lasted to be cut 
for the outside market, and a good many million feet cut and consumed in 
the county in the way of building houses, barns, outbuildings, fences and for 
articles manufactured in the county. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 265 

As to amount of timber floated down the L'liipi)e\va ri\er, down the Btg 
and Little Salt and down the Pine that was was cut in tlie county it can not 
be less than 1.550,000.000 feet and that, added to the amount cut by mills 
in the county. 550.000.000. would make a strand total of 2.100.000,000 feet. 
Or, if you choose to approximate by taking each forty acres of land in the 
county and allowing 560.000 feet of lumber to the forty, you would get the 
neat amount of 2,292,000.000 feet of lumber. 

This amount of timber, at $15 per thousand feet would amount to the 
sum of $34,380,000. while the county is now. with all of its improvements, 
assessed in the anmunt of $8,772,465, and the personal at $946,304, being a 
sum total of $12,957,358, and if we concede that the property is not assessed 
for more than three-fourths of its value and you add one-fourth you will 
have the sum of $16,196,697. which then would be not one-half as much as 
the timber would be worth were it now standing on the land. \\"e ought also 
to take into account that quite an amount of timber was destroyed by the 
forest fires of 1871, and in the early days a number of millions of feet of 
timber was burned in the clearing of the land for agricultural purposes, also 
the amount that has been consumed in the form of \\ood for domestic ])ur- 
poses. Taking all of these together, the reader will get some slight idea of 
the tremendous value of the Isabella forests and the amount of labor it took 
to clear it off of the ground and make it available for agricultural purposes. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS. 



Tlie matter to be covered by this chapter is certainly one of the most im- 
portant of any in this history. The matter of agricuhure lias been a para- 
mount subject ever since man emerged from his state of barbarism. And 
when we look back o\-er the nations of the world and ask ourselves the reason 
of the lands becoming a barren waste, may we not ask with some degree of 
reason if man has not been somewhat to blame for this great destruction of 
the fertility of the soil and its abandonment? And m-i\- we not ask ourselves 
what might the consequences have been to the human race above what it was 
had that soil been fertilized and kept in a condition to support mankind and 
thus rendered the environment of the peoples of that time far more inhabit- 
able? 

Or shall we be allowed to come closer to our own time and ask ourselves 
why is it that the Eastern and some of the Southern states are so largely 
thrown out to the commons as waste land when it was once a fertile and 
inhabitable country? 

And coming closer home, may we not ask ourselves what is to be the 
result here in our own county and state if we continue to take so much out 
of the soil and return nothing to it to repair that tremendous waste. If we go 
back in our county only the short space of fifty-six years, we will find here a 
dense wilderness of timlier where nature had been at work for hundreds and 
thousands of years in forming and shaping the country and producing and 
building up that noble forest of timber and fertilizing the soil, preparing for 
man's good. And what have we done to assist nature since we came or do 
we think that nature can take care of herself without any assistance from 
man ? \\'ell, it looks very much to us as if man did think that the God of 
nature was able and possihl\- willing to take care of all this and that man 
could go on in his blind way and abuse the work of nature all he wishes to 
and at the same time expect that nature will give to him for his pusillanimous 
course nothing but good in return. Xo, gentlemen, you have got no such 
God of nature and you abuse the use of the soil and take from it all you can 
and then return nothing to it. Time will inform you that you are not wise 
and you and your posterity will suiYer the consequences and pay the penalty. 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MU HICAN. 267 

In Isabella county agriculture was an up-iiill business in the lirst in- 
stance, for all should know that it was necessary first to clear the land from its 
mammoth growth of timber, which occupied every acre. The cost of such 
clearing and fencing was in the early days put at twenty dollars [>er acre. 
That was no easy jol), especiall\- to tlmse — and there were very many of them 
— who came here with nothing luil their strong arms and niigiity will as an 
equipment for the work. It was a good eight or ten days' work to chop and 
clear and fence one acre of land; and that was not so bad if you had the 
wherewith to feed and clothe the wife and babies at home while you were 
doing it, but when it was necessary to work one-half of tlic time at least to 
keep soul and body together before you could tackle your own work it then 
became a more serious question. Again, we must remember that there was 
absolutely no market for a stick of that timber that was on your land, but all 
of it had to be burned Ijefore you cnuld dare to put out vnur seed for a 
crop. It would have been so much better if all of that wood could ha\e been 
allowed to decay on the ground and the material that it had taken from the 
soil been allowed to go back to mother earth. They say that fire is a great 
purifier. l)ut I would rather have it done in some other wa\' and sa\e tlie 
original element for, to me, a better puri)ose. I am aware thai it left some 
pot-ash. but that is what was done, ^'ou will readily see then that the people 
that cleared up this county are entitled to a good deal of credit for the great 
amount of labor that it cost, say naught abnut the waste of muscle and the 
many backaches that were thrown in. 

Those that had some means to secure the work done bv nthers were 
soon repaid, for the first crops brought a good price generallv for what the 
farmer could .spare after laying aside sufficient for the needs of himself and 
family. 

The first clearing commenced in the southeast corner town of the county 
for the reason that there was where the first land was secured l)y William B. 
Bowen. William .\dams, James Shepherd, J. P>. Walton, George and Dow 
Greenfield, who located and cut the first road through the woods from the 
south line of the county to section 9, where Miller's addition to Old Salt 
river was afterward located. This road was cut out about tlie ist of Xovem- 
\xr, 1854. Others, to wit: Daniel Brickley, John Stewart, .\ndrew V. Childs, 
James Wilsey, Daniel Childs, James Campbell, (korge Reasoner. Charles F. 
Young and M. J. Hall had, on the loth day of October, of that year, pur- 
chased lands under the graduation act at fifty cents an acre and soon there- 
after also went into the wilderness and commenced to clear the land for 
buildings and for crops. Then came John M. llursh and Mr. Jenner in the 



268 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

winter of 1854 and Judge Perry H. Estee, who settled on the northwest 
quarter of section 18 in Coe, and cut the first tree on his land on the 4th day 
of July of that year. Then later came Uncle John Fraser and settled on the 
south half of section 31 in Chippewa, then Woodworth and A. A. Preston, 
also James and William Hoag, in Lincoln, and Bouton, Goodsell, Loveland, 
Ferris, Sherman and others. In i860 the census shows a population of one 
thousand four hundred thirty-three, of which there were five hundred seventy- 
seven whites and eight hundred and fifty-si.\ Indians, and the whites were dis- 
tributed as follows : Sixty-seven families in Coe, twenty-four families in Chip- 
pewa, there being one hundred sixt}--seven persons, with twenty-eight families, 
in Union and Isabella. The first thing to do in such a country was to cut the 
necessary logs and roll them up in the form of a house. Slit out some shake for 
a roof and rive out some boards for a door and make and hang it on wooden 
hinges. Then find some clay, which was not a ditificult jol), mix it into a plastic 
condition, make a wooden trowel and plaster up the chinks in the wall and make 
it wind and squirrel proof. Rive out some plank for a floor, and lay them 
down and your house was ready for occupation and you today would be 
surprised how nice and neat and clean some of them were. There being no 
foundries, it was necessary that a fireplace and chimney should be built, so 
some short sticks were split out, laid up in a square or oblong form ; make 
some more clay mortar and plaster it outside and in, and you have it. These 
were the ]3ioneers" mansions, and also their barn and stable buildings were 
made in the same way, minus the chinking and chimney. Now they were 
ready for the timber and for that all he required was a good sharp axe, a 
strong will and lots of muscle. The trees were felled to the ground, the limbs 
cut from the body of the tree and then piled into large brush piles and allowed 
to remain until they should have an opportunity to dry. when a fire was set 
and the brush consumed. Then came the logging bee, when the oxen hauled 
the logs to a given place, where the men with hand spikes rolled them into 
mammoth piles, waited thett until a dry time and put fire into the log pile 
and waited until the fire had consumed the timber, when the farmer pro- 
ceeded to Ijrand up the chunks left and then it was ready for the shovel 
plow. Another wav was to fall the trees into a windrow as far as possible, lop 
down the large limbs and cut ofi those that reached over too far and pile 
them onto the winrow, then wait until a dry time, set fire to the brush and 
burn out as much as would burn, then cut up the timber into logs and roll up 
the logs as before and clear them off by fire, and you are ready again for the 
shovel plow. One fault in this process was the destruction of all the vegetable 
mould, tiie little limbs, leaves and rotten wood that was a covering for the 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 269 

ground and contained a large amount of fertility for the soil, .\notlier way 
was to girdle the large timber and allow it to die and then fall it and remove 
the same witlimit burning the ground over, leaving all of the refuse to go 
back to mother earth and thus enrich the soil just as nature had intended 
that you should. 

After your ground is cleared of the timber, the (|uestion arises, what 
shall the crop \)e'f What is of most importance? Well, the first thing neces- 
sary was something for the family, and wheat was the crop that would come 
nearest to meeting that want. And then in these early days if you could 
raise more than needed for food you could sell the surplus to your neighbor 
less fortunate than you and for a goodly price, many times as much as two 
and three dollars per bushel. Then, again, hay was necessary if you kept 
horses; if cattle, then the straw and some browse in the timl)er would suffice. 
Com and oats were necessary, also potatoes were also a good crop, for 
potatoes were as high as two dollars per bushel, corn one dollar and fifty cents 
per bushel, hav sixtv dollars per ton. beans as high as seven dollars per bushel 
and other things in proportion. These prices were paid often, but not all of 
the time. l)ut there was no time ikuing tlie fifties and sixties that the}' did not 
bring a good price to those who could raise such to spare. 

Another thing that affected agriculture during the sixties was the matter 
of lumbering. About i860 was the time of the first of the lumbering in this 
neighborhood and all of their supplies liad to be raised here or carted from 
the outside, say Saginaw or St. John's, and with nothing but tote roads cut 
through the woods, with no graded roads and nobody to build bridges or 
culverts, it was a costly matter to haul in goods and supplies, it costing as high 
as three dollars per hundred for any kind of goods. Another thing that then 
prevailed was that the would-be farmer felt obliged to work for wages in the 
woods to support his family, so that he could not cut nuich timber on his own 
land for clearing. Also in those days no logs would sell for any price except a 
Xo. I or Xo. 2 pine, and a Xo. i was a perfect log with no crook, no knot, in 
fact, no defect of any kind and a Xo. 2 log must be ])erfect on one side at least. 
A common pine log was of no value \\ hatexer. X'either was any other class 
of timber of any value. The result was that a great many of our farmers 
neglected the work of clearivg their land on the farm ;uid worked most of the 
time in the lumber camp, or upon the river in the spring in running the logs 
to the Saginaw lx)om, which often carried the work well up to June. But 
time went on and one by one the farmers got back to their legitimate calling 
and the forest began to disappear. 

Another element stepped in in 1871 and that was the tremendous forest 



270 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

fires of that year. The whole country seemed ablaze with fire and the people 
were almost suffocated, so dense was the smoke. The destruction of prop- 
erty was enormous, houses^ barns, fences, crops, timber and in some cases 
all that the people had in their houses or barns. But the greatest destruction 
was tlie timber and soil. A large percentage of the timber overrun was 
killed by the heat and fire so that it was ruined unless it could be cut the com- 
ing winter and that was impossible. 

As you go through the county today and find such a small amount of 
timber land you are led to incpire the cause unless you were familiar with 
these forest fires. Another emljarrassing element in the development of the 
county agriculturally was the fact that so much of the lands had more or 
less pine timber upon them and the timbermen were very much averse to 
having the farmer settle near them on account of the fire that was liable to 
occur in their timber, so that until their lumbering was completed they would 
not part with the title of their land that had already been lumbered. So also 
was there another drawback — five townships, or 100,000 acres of land, em- 
bracing a large percentage of fine farming land, had been in 1855 withdrawn 
from market as an Indian reservation and until that could be selected and 
conveved to the Indians who should be entitled to it by the treaty of 1864, 
nothing could be done on any of that except by the Indian, as, by the Shaw- 
Boose decision of our supreme court, no Indian could alienate his land until 
the government had pronounced him competent and that was not done until 
1871. 

I mention these obstructions to the earlier clearing of the land for the 
reason that some may think that fifty-fi\e years is a long time to clear up a 
county and remove all of the timber therefrom, and so it would have been in 
this case had it not been for the hindrances that came to the farmers in this 
case. 

It was al)out 1879 o^' 1880 that the hard woods and hemlocks began to 
ha\'e a value as lumber or staves or something of the kind and from that date 
the clearing and subduing of the lands were more rapid. 

-Another great drawback to its rapid development was lack of transpor- 
tation. The first railroad was not built until 1871 and then only accommo- 
dated a very small portion of this county, as it crossed the extreme northeast 
portion of the county and then crossed into Clare county and kept gradually 
retiring farther from the north line of this county until at the northwest 
corner of this county it was several miles distant. The first one we were 
favored with was the road from Coleman in 1879 and later, in 1885-6, the 
Ann Arbor road, which gave us an outlet from the south. 



ISABELLA COINTV. MICHIGAN. 27I 

By tliis time tlic luiiihcrman's tleiiiaiid for produce had so far diniinislicd 
and tlie crops in tlie county so nuicli enlarged tliat we needed an outside 
market very badly and these roads gave us relief, so that from that time may 
be marked the great impulse to agriculture. 

In 1870 the population of the county had increased to 4,113. of which 
2,211 were males and 1.902 were females. This was exclusive of Indians 
and government emi)lo_\cs. The census was again taken in 1H74 and at this 
time there were 6,059, with ^,2/^ males and 2,786 females, an increase in 
four years of 1,948. This shows that increase was not rapid in the county 
along these years. The number of males twenty-one years and over, not 
married, was 420: married, 1.201 : divorced or widowers. 78. Of the female 
portion, the showing is more bright and lovely, for the single numbers is re- 
duced to 139, while the number married is 1,162. This is somewhat marred 
by the fact that 85 are divorced or widowed. The number of males of the 
age of ten and under twenty-one is 688. of females. 503, while of the males 
we find six married and of the females there were 2^. 

STATISTICS OF FAKMS A.M) FARM PKODITTS. 

Ha\-ing gi\-en something of tlie difficulties of early extcnsixe development 
of the county, we desire now to show something of the acKance made firim 
1880, after the lumliering !'ad began to decline and transportation had lie- 
come more easy and convenient. There are approximately 23,040 acres of 
land in a township. This county has sixteen townships and therefore 368,640 
acres in the county. Of this, there were cleared and cropped in 1880, 55.316 
acres, divided into 1,679 f^mis, of which 1.591 were worked by tiie owners 
and 31 were rented for money rental, while 57 were rented for shares of the 
crops. In 1884 the number of farms had increased to 2.038; of these 1.857 
were farmed by the owner, j^ rented for cash and 108 for a portion of the 
cro]). The total acreage had then increased to 76,399 acres. In 1890 the 
acres of cleared land was 99.419, divided into 2.456 farms: of these, 2,180 
were tilled by the owners, while 57 were rented for cash and 219 were on 
shares. 1894 the improved lands were 114,614. divided into 2,642 farms, 
and of these 2.316 were worked b\' the owner, while iO(; were rented for 
cash and 217 for a portion of the crop. 

In T904 the farms had increased to 3,103: t)wned by whites, 3.043. and 
by colored, 60. Of these, 2.772 were operated by the owner, 7 by a manager, 
79 by cash renter and 245 on shares. Total acreage in farms, 250.556; im- 
proved, 152,360: unimproved. 98,196; owned, 215.610: and leased. 34.64r>. 



272 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Total value of farm property $8,653,014; land and improvements except 
buildings, $5,059,958: buildings, $1,826,436; implements and machinery, 
$358,611 ; live stock, $1,408,009. 

The farms by townships are as follows; Broomfield has 168 farms, con- 
taining 14,034 acres, of which there are 7,498 improved and 6.536 unim- 
proved; owned, 12,014, and leased, 2,020; total value, $324,280. The im- 
proved lands without the buildings, $148,739, and the buildings, $80,865; 
implements and machinery, $25,530, and value of live stock, $60,146. 

Chippewa has 198 farms; total acreage 14,976; improved, 9.029, and 
unimproved, 5,947; owned, 11,779; rented, 3,197; total value, $560,641 ; land 
and improvements except buildings, $335,725: buildings, $108,700; imple- 
ments and machinery, $21,425, and live stock, $94,791. 

Coe. the oldest of the counties, has kept in the lead as to \alue. but not 
quite as to number of farms. Coe has 261 farms, all containing 20,231 
acres, with 14.996 acres improved and 5.235 unimproved: owned, 16,861, 
and leased, 3.370; total value, $1,006,568; lands without the buildings, $85.- 
695, and the buildings at $252,407; implements and niachiner\", $34,125, and 
live stock, $134,391. 

Coldwater has 171 farms, of 16,312 acres; improved, 7.579 acres, and 
unimproved, 8.733; o^vned, 15,205, and leased, 1.107; valued at $285,155; 
the land, less the buildings, $162,475, and the buildings at $46,115, with live 
stock, $66,099, 'i"'^ implements and machineiy, $10,466. 

Deerfield has 226 farms and in them 17,345 acres of land, of which 9,841 
are improved and 7.504 unimproved; owned, 14,755, ^"d leased, 2,590 acres; 
total value, $511,966; land and improvements, except buildings, $299,700, 
and buildings. $100,578; implements and machinery, $19,035. and live stock, 

$92,653- 

Den\-er has 179 farms and 12,686 acres; improved. 7.403. and unim- 
proved. 5.283: owned, 10,961, and leased, 1,725; total value, $481,371. with 
land and improvements, except buildings, $289,598; buildings, $85,505; im- 
plements and machinery. .$19,140, and live stock, $87,128. 

Fremont has 192 farms and in them 17,401 acres; improved, 9,863, and 
unimproved, 7,538; owned, 14,726, and leased, 2,675; total value $515,891; 
land and improvements, except buildings, $325,640, and buildings $87,310; 
implements and machinery, $21,215, ''"f' ^'^"^ stock, $81,816. 

Gilmore has 112 farms; 10,146 acres; improved, 5.467, and unimproved, 
4,679: owned, 8.687, ^"^ leased, 1,459; *^otal value, $224,343; land and im- 
provements, except buildings, $117,675: buildings, $44,150; implements and 
machinery, $10,585. and live stock, $51,933. 



ISABELLA COLNTV. MICHIGAN. 273 

Isabella has 150 farms, total acreage in farms, 13.01 1 ; improved, 8,690, 
and unimproved, 4.321 ; owned, 11. 551, and leased, 1,460: total value, $476,- 
526; land and improvements, less buildings, $311,300: buildings, $101,900; 
implements and machinerj-, $13,600. and live stock, $49,726. 

Lincoln has 273 farms, in all 20.687 acres: improved. i4.44<;. and unim- 
proved, 6,238: owned, 16,771, ami least'd. 3.<)U>. all of the \aliR' of .S()i 1.471 : 
land and improvements, less buildings, $557,445, and buildings, $202,025; 
implements and machinery. $28,956, and live stock, $123,035. 

Nottawa has 217 farms, acres 16,138; improved, 9.633, and unimproved, 
6,505; owned, 14,878, and leased. 1.260; tutal value. $642,349: land and im- 
provements, except buildings, $393,911 ; i)uiidings, $124,750; implements and 
machinery, $31,245, and live stock, $92,443. 

Rolland has 147 farms of the average size of 94 acres each, and in all 
13.776 acres; improved. 8.465, and unimproved. 5.311: owned, 12,836, and 
leased, 940 acres; total value, $340,528; land and imjjrovements, less build- 
ings, $184,250, and buildings, $79,230: implements and maciiinery, $14,200; 
live stock, $62,848. 

Sherman has 158 farms. 11.957 acres; improved. 6,005, and unimproved. 
5,952: owned, 10,777; leased. 1,180; total value. $240,191; land and im- 
provements, less buildings. $123,625, and buildings, $45,675; implements and 
machinery, $14,094, with live stock at $56,749. 

Union, with 231 farms, total acreage of 16,980: improved, 12,399, and 
unimproved, 4,581; owned, 15,442. and leased, 1,528; total value, $992,103; 
land and improvements, except buildings. $600,400; buildings, $227,966; 
implements and machinery, $46,505, and live stock. $117,232. 

Vernon, with 231 farms, of 20.236 acres: improved. 13,077: unim- 
proved, 7,159; owned, 16,298, and leased, 3.938; total value, $724,003; land 
and improvements, less buildings, $385,420. and buildings, $168,410; im- 
plements and machinery. $32,010. witli live stock at $138,163. 

Wise has 205 farms, with 13.639 acres; improved, 7,683, and unim- 
proved, 6,256; owned, 11. 131, and leased, 2,508: total value, $351,285; farms, 
without buildings, $204,450. buildings, $53,000; machinery and implements, 
$14,030; live stock. $78,805. 

Mt. Pleasant has 13 farms and 1,001 acres; 583 improved and 418 un- 
improved: owned, 928, and leased, jTf: total value, $64,253; land, without 
buildings. $33,850. and buildings, $17,850; implements and machinery-, $1,- 
450; live stock. $11,103. 

(18) 



274 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

PRINCIPAL CROPS. 

It is a difficult matter for us to say what the principal crops of the 
county are. The crops differ in different localities. Some townships have 
a light loamy or sandy soil, some have rolling land, some have quite heavy 
clav soil and others have a black loam, and so it goes. If they are to be 
gauged by the crops they raise, perhaps that would be as good an inde.x as 
we can give. 

The best crop, so far as money goes to prove the fact, is live stock. 
There was sold in 1904 — arid these are the last records available — in cattle 
of all kinds and grades, $378,277. Beside those sold as above, there were 
slaughtered on the farms during the year $80,349 worth. Of the above 
amounts, there were in dairy stock, $340,000. 

The corn crop was the next in value, being $290,210. The potato crop 
was next and brought $248,665. Clover hay stood at $221,340, and wheat 
was valued at $201,150. Then follows oats at $162,211. Timothy hay was 
valued at $118,187, and the horses sold at $103,000; sheep for $90,000, and 
beans at $79,460, with sugar beets at $64,260 and apples for $36,212; rye 
for $34,248; barley at $9,445. and buckwheat for $9,477. The clover .seed 
sold for $17,276. 

Below will be found a lietter index as to where the larger proportion of 
these crops and animals were raised : 

LIVE STOCK. 

June I, 1904, Isabella county contained 595 colts under one year of age, 
worth $17,705, and 730 between one and two years of age. worth $67,955, 
with 8,062 over two, worth $756,835; also 31 mules of the value of $3,105. 
Of sheep, there were 16,651 under one year of age. worth $25,304. and 22.~,j8 
one year and over, worth $64,290 ; rams and wethers one year and over, 
worth $7,420. Of swine, 22,232. value $83,078, and goats, 27, value $96. 

Of pure blooded horses, cattle, sheep, swine, goats, registered or eligi- 
ble to registry on hantl Jun.e I, 1904. in Isaliella county, were as follows: 
Percherons, 6, valued at $2,650; French draft. 2, value $550: Clydesdale, 2, 
worth $1,400 ; Hambletonian, 9, of the value of $2,330. Of cattle there were : 
Holstein. 11. value $440: Jersey, 6, value $295; Shorthorn, 85, value $5,235; 
red polled. 4. value $210; Herefords, 8, value $1,710; Aberdeen-Angus, 23, 
at $1,850. 

Of sheep there are 136 Shropshire, of value of $1,097; Hampshire, i. 



ISABELLA COL'NTV, MKIIIGAN. 275 

value $15; Oxfords. 13, value $145. Large swine. 16 Berkshire, at $^15; 
Poland China, i". at $252; Duroc-Jersey. 24, at $260; Chester-White, 2, at 
$45, and lit" small swine, i X'ictoria. at $20: ^'(lrkshire. 5. at $100. 

CKOPS. 

Acres, yield and \aluc of corn, wheat, oats, liarlcx and rye produced in 
the county in the year 1903: 20.918 acres of corn, bushels 597,081. at $290,- 
810: I4,33''i acres of wheat, 262.147 bushels, at $201,156: oats, 14,456 acres, 
bushels 481.158, value $162,211; barley, 694 acres, 17.956 bushels, value 
$9,445 : rye, 5.005 acres. 66.664 bushels, value $34,248. 

Coe and Lincoln are the townships having the greatest acreage of corn 
and the largest yield. \'ernon and Coe Iiad tlie largest acreage and greatest 
yield of wheat. In oats. Coe. Vernon. Isabella and Union had the largest 
acreage, and Coe, Vernon, Union and Lincoln the largest yield, in the order 
named. In liarley. Denver and Wise ha\e the larger acreage and \\'ise and 
Denver the larger yield. In rye. Sherman. Broonifield and Coldwater the 
largest acreage and Coldwater. Sherman and I'roomtield the larger number 
of bushels. 

Of buckwheat. Isabella county had 1.507 acres, yielding 18.086 bushels, 
of tlie value of $9,477: clo\cr seed. 3.229 bushels, value $17,276: grass seed, 
106 bushels, value $172: clover hay, 23,024 acres, yielding 34.125 tons of 
hay, value $221,341 : also 10,312 acres of timotiiy. yielding 15.052 tons of 
hay. value $118,187: wild hay. 155 acres, yielding 190 tons, value $972; 
millet and Hungarian. 95 acres, tons 149. and \alue $866; alfalfa. 4 acres, 
with 3 tons, value $2j : grain cut green. 46 acres, 61 tons, value $361. 

The towns ])utting out tlie largest acreage to tiiese several products are 
as follows: Fremont put out the most and Ilroomlield the next in buckwheat 
and received the largest amount of money for the cnij). In clover seed. Fre- 
mont has almost double that of any other township: Lincoln is next and 
Rolland next. Of grass seed. Deerfield is first and Denver and \'ernon a tie. 
In clover hay. Union is at the head, with Isabella a close second. With timothv 
hay. Coe stands tirst and \"crn(in a close second. With wild grass, L'nion is 
first and Sherman stands next ; with millet. Fremont is first and Sherman 
second. With alfalfa. Broomfield is the only town having any. With grain 
cut green. Sherman is at the head and Coldwater next. 

In potatoes, Broomfield is at the head with $56,509 worth, and Rolland 
with $38,802 and Sherman with $35,038: in beans. Lincoln has $16,531, and 
Fremont, $13,228: in peas, Vernon has 3.437 bushels, worth $1,718. and Cil- 



2/6 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

more has 1,448 bushels, worth $1,018: of maple sugar, Broomfield made 300 
pounds, Coldwater 500 pounds, and of maple syrup, Lincoln made 660 gallons 
and Union 270 gallons. 

It is about ten years ago that the first sugar beets were raised in the county 
as a field crop. In 1904 the report is that the crop in the county reached the 
sum of $64,269, Coe furnishing $18,944, Union $11,182 and Denver $9,123. 

In cabbage, Denver takes the lead with 4,225 heads, worth $236, while 
Wise has 5,000 heads for $100, Coe 4,137 heads, for $192, and Lincoln, 
3,925, worth $175. 

Isabella county, for an inland one, is a \-ery good county for fruit, espe- 
cially the hardier kinds. The county had, in 1904, 3.079 acres in apple 
orchards, with 89,731 trees, bearing 140,827 bushels of apples, worth $36,- 
212. Coe has the most trees, with Lincoln second and LTnion third. In 
peaches, there were 98 acres, with 8,152 trees and 1,730 bushels of fruit, 
value $1,952. Here Broomfield is first, with 1,576 trees, 24 bushels, worth 
$25; Lincoln, 1,104 trees and 295 bushels fruit, worth $292; while Coe has 
1,057 trees, with 16 bushels, worth $16. 

The county is somewhat of a dealer in antl possessor of fowls. June i, 
1904, there were in the county 127,895 chickens, 850 turkeys, 818 geese and 
930 ducks, of the value of $44,248, and the farmers raised during the year 
in poultry $55,418. The eggs produced were 720,874 dozen, of the value of 
$106,793. 

There were 1,183 swarms of bees on hand June i, 1904. valued at 
$4,332, and produced that year 47,495 pounds of honey during the season, 
and of wax 878 pounds, the honey and wax being worth $4,728. 

In 1904 there were in the county 7 silos, with a capacity of 746 tons ; 
I in Coe, 3 in Union, 2 in Vernon and i in ^It. Pleasant. 

There were 23,266 fleeces sheared, weighing 168,015 pounds, worth 

$,^5773- 

The farmer paid for outdoor labor on the farm at the average rate of 

$1.46 per day, including board, and an average by the month of $35.82. 

The milk produced for the year was 5,116,596 gallons: they sold 220,- 
827 gallons for $21,643; they produced 67,500 gallons of cream and sold 
67,300 gallons for $28,789; they produced 92,509 pounds of butter and sold 
34,604 pounds for $7,165; produced 400 pounds of cheese and sold 300 
pounds for $40; they consumed of the dairy product on the farm $155,150. 

It will be seen bv the above that but a small amount above one-half of 
the total acreage of the county was in farms in 1894, and of the farms, com- 
prising 194,031 acres, only 96,711 acres were being farmed and 17,903 acres 
were taken up in permanent pasturage, meadow, orchard, vineyard, nur- 
series and market gardens, with 48,125 taken up in forest and woodland. 



ISABELLA COINTV. MICHIGAX. 2-J-J 

DAIRYING INTERESTS. 

A large portion of Isabella county is natural grazing land. W'c have 
seen in the early days of the settlement, when passing through the timber, 
pony grass a foot high and thick on the ground; have seen the timothy in 
the old lumber roads growing as high as a man's head, and also clover all 
along the track. As soon as tlic timber is cut down and the sun gets to the 
ground, it will be but a very short time before the ground is covered with 
wild grasses. This adaptation to grazing has caused many of our good farm- 
ers to turn their attention to the dairying business. A few years ago there 
were two creameries in Mt. Pleasant, one at Shepherd, one at Rosebush, one 
started at \\'eidman. John Landon had a cheese factory on his farm, wiiicb 
is still standing. These and others have met with varying success, but a 
number of them have ceased to do business. 

About 1907 the Condensed Milk Com])any commenced to build a fac- 
tory for the condensation of milk and started the work of condensation in tiie 
spring of 1908. and liavc continued the business e\er since. The plant is 
a good one and is doing a thrixing business and they are paying a lilieral 
price for milk from the farmers, so that for the last season they liave used 
about forty thousand pounds of milk per day. 

The price has been such that a great many farmers liave invested in 
cows for the purpose of selling tlic milk to tliis factory. It is a scheme that 
appeals to the farmer's wife as well as to the farmer. As one man expressed 
it, "We used to keep a few cows and made butter at home; that made a lot 
of hard work for the women, as they were oliliged to set the milk in open 
pans for the cream to raise, then skim the cream and em|)ty tlie milk, then 
wash all of the milk pans and pails, and then when the cream was thought 
to be ripe for the churning, empty the same into the churn and wash the 
cream holder and scald that out. Then for the churning — well every house- 
wife, hired girl, Ix)y around the house and some of the girls know what that 
means, and especially when the cream gets on a rampage and will not Ijutter 
for the world, and they commence to put in hot water because the cream is 
too cold, and then try it again, but no butter, and so douse in some cold 
water because the cream nnist be too warm, .nid at it again, and so on. un- 
til patience seems to be exhausted, and tiien tiicy jjull up tiie churn handle, 
and, lo and behold! there are some specks on tlie handle; so call mother to 
get her judgment of what that means, and after she has passed her opinion 
take new courage and at it again w itb a vim until mother stops him for fear 
he will spoil the whole outfit, and then he settles down for an all-day job. 



27S ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

when, to his utter astonishment, the dasher begins to Hit harder and liarder 
until at last the butter is there. 

"Well, by this time some crazy fellow announced that it was just as well 
to separate the butter fat from the milk while it was fresh as to let it stand 
in open pans for the ugly microbe to be fooling with it; so he brought out 
the separator, and they were soon in the homes of a large numlier of the 
farmers, and they were happy that they might milk and immediatel\- repair 
to the house and proceed to separate the milk from the butter fat and then 
put the cream away to ripen and feed the milk to the pigs. Then the cream- 
ery came along, and it would come to your door and take your cream off 
your hands and giye you its yalue, and that was better still : but now comes 
the condensary, anil it takes your milk from your yery door and pays you 
what would ha\e lieen. a few years ago, a big figure for it, and you haye no 
further trouble with it. It is surely a grand moye in the right direction, 
and all that the condensary asks is that your milk must test to three per cent. 
of butter fat, be not watered and be kept clean; that is, it means that the 
stables must be kept in a sanitary condition and the cows kept healthy and in 
good condition, all of which is reasonable and right. The result of this 
change is that our farmers, many of them, are being educated to knuw how 
to care for a good cow. and they are beginning to know a good cow when 
they look into the face of one, and the amount of money the\- are getting 
out of a good cow creates ?. kindly feeling between them and they take liet- 
ter care of them and treat them more as they should. It is nothing now to 
go out and find plenty of cows that it takes from one hundred to one hundred 
and fifty dollars to buy." 

.\nother thing it does for the county is that it keeps a large per cent, 
of the bay and grain to be fed upon the farm and the ingredients returned 
to the soil that are absolutely necessary to keep up its fertility. 

One of our dairy farmers remarked a few days ago that he had se\en- 
teen cows, mostly Holsteins, and gave a little history of how he managed 
his herd. It was very interesting to hear him state the care that he took 
of his stock and what he received in return. His method of feeding and 
caring for his cows was as methodical as if he were running a steam mill. 
Everything just at the minute and the rations all weighed out. so that there 
was absolutely no cjuestion of what each one got, and then when the milking 
time came they were just as careful of how they treated the cows and the 
number of iM)unds of milk that each cow gave at each milking: and then, 
to sum up. be quietlv remarked that he was able with those cows, after pay- 
ing all exiienses, to put away in the bank a straight one hundred dollars each 
month. 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MUHIGAX. 279 

This factory has a capacity for handling one hundred thousand pounds 
of milk per day, and now reaches out in some directions tifteen miles. It 
ought, and we are sure it will, if kept up to the present standard, add at 
least twenty-five per cent, to the value of e\ery acre of tillable land within 
the radius of its reach. 

FENCES ON THE FARM. 

Fences on the farm have always been a very great necessity. In the 
early days of the county there was perhajjs a great necessity, for, unless 
fenced in. you could hardly know whether you were to ha\e fresh milk for 
the hahy or for vour own mush in the morning; liesides. it jjrohahK' meant a 
long hunt for the cow at night or for your oxen in the morning. Many a 
farmer has spent many a long search for his stock, and it soon became a 
l)rime necessity and he began to devise means for some manner of keejiing 
the cattle within bounds. So thev commenced bv felling what thex' called a 
uinrow of trees, lopping down the large limbs and piling some brush upon 
the winrow. until it should be of sufficient height and closely enough piled 
to make a defense to the cattle and horses. 

Xext was the rail s])litting and clearing of a space to la\- up tlie fence. 
This, too. was a job of no small amount, as it took eighteen rails to lay u|) 
one rod of fence, and it cost considerable to hire the rails split, besides the 
cost of hauling and laying uj). This method of fencing was followed for 
some years: in fact, there are a great many rods of rail fence in the county 
at the present time. 

Along about 1880 rail timber began to lie quite scarce and the farmer 
began to look around for some cheap and substantial material for a substi- 
tute for rails, and the American genius, seeing the necessity, invented barbed 
wire, and then a large quantity of that material was used. This, however, 
did not ])rove entireh' satisfactory, as it was destructi\e to cattle as they 
came in contact with it. and often to horses that would get their feet or legs 
tangled in the wire or allow one of the barbs to catch them in the eye. which 
meant an eye out. 

More recently the woven-wire fence seems to ha\e taken the place \ery 
largely of all others, and surely this class of fence is more humane and is 
very lasting when properly put up. and at the present time would seem to be 
the onlv one that should be used. There seems to be no scarcity in the 
sup])lv, as vou may see at every little burg piles of it ready for the buyer. 
Pine stumps is another material in localities where they are sufficiently plenti- 
ful. Thev are raised from the grouml. hauled to the line of the fence. 



28o ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

where a trench is dug, and then they are raised upon edge, trimmed off and 
the long roots lopped off until, when well put up, they form a very formidaljle 
fence and one that will last just as long as you desire, and should you e\er 
get short of fuel or kindling, all you have to do is to go to the fence and get 
a supply, and you may be reasonably sure that as long as you need such ma- 
terial it will be there for you. 

There was also a time when post and board fence was quite extensively 
used, say along in the eighties and forepart of the nineties. At this time 
lumber was very cheap and also posts. This combination made a good fence, 
l)Ut it was not lasting, as the posts soon rot out and the boards sun check, 
the nails become loose and the fence goes down. After it once gave out 
there was no remedy, as lumber went so high that no one would think of 
trying to continue that kind of a fence. 

MAPLE SUGAR AND SYRUP. 

From the date of the very first settlement this industry was an important 
one. The county was full of the finest of maple trees and the seasons were 
generally favorable to the industry. Almost every farmer had his sugar 
bush, and each spring as the time for tapping the trees came they were active 
in getting their spiles, troughs or pails ready and the boiling place repaired, 
unless this work was done at the house. As soon as it would do to tap, the 
family were out gathering the sap and getting it to the place of boiling, 
wherever that might be. Some tapped a few trees and some tapped hun- 
dreds. Those tapping many generally had a boiling place in the woods with 
a shanty to keep their tools and supplies in, and sometimes a bed for com- 
fort. The sap was gathered in pails by the party and carried to the place 
of boiling, or he rigged up a sleigh with a barrel or large can in which he 
could pour the sap, and sometimes when the snow got deep, which it often 
did in those days, he would be obliged to gather the fluid by wearing snow 
shoes to prevent his sinking in the snow. 

In these ways hundreds of pounds of maple sugar and thousands of gal- 
lons of maple syrup were made by the farmer. In fact, it almost took the 
place of all sweets for the family, and many of the earliest ones that had 
settled upon the homestead lands were obliged to depend e.xclusively upon 
this for all the sweet they had. Many a family in those early davs of the 
county lived for days and v.eeks upon the maple sugar that they made, and 
the leeks that they were able to gather as the snows went off in the spring. 
The good old days of maple sugar and the fun in making it ha\e now \an- 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 281 

ished only to a very few tliat liave been al>le to save a few mai)le trees an<l 
have the ambition to wade tliiough the snows and carry or haul tiie sap to 
the house. 

They have now turned their attention to the raising of sugar beets and 
hauling them to the factop»- and are content on living upon the sugar made 
from beets and forego that delightful flavor the genuine maple sugar pos- 
sesses. 

The cause of the disappearance of the maple timber is twofold. One 
was the forest fires of the seventies and the other the demand that came and 
the price paid for maple logs which induced the farmer to cut and sell his 
maple timber to mill men. v,ho very soon exhausted the supply of that kind 
of timber. 

DUAIXJXG. 

Draining is one of the necessary adjuncts to farming in this county, 
and our farmers have realized that, especially for the past twenty years, and 
in an increasing ratio. The county can never be at its best until it is well 
and thoroughly drained, and while much has already been done, there is 
room and necessity for very much more. There has been a good deal of 
private draining, both in tile and open ditch, which it is impossible for us to 
give at the present time. 

The census of 1894 gives as the number of rods of open ditches in the 
county 68,935, 3nd of tile drain 70,608 rods. There is no statement as to 
what is private and what are public drains. We ha\e made an examination 
of the number, name, length and cost of all of the county drains, which is as 
follows : 

Commencing back to the time when Alex Brodie was county drain 
commissioner, the first drain recorded was the Riggle Marsh drain, in which 
the petition or application v. as filed on July 5. 1886. This drain was 1,352 
rods long, affected Broomfield, Rolland and I-"remont townships, and cost 
tho.se benefited by the drain $1,801.07. 

No. 2 was the Oberlin drain, located in Union and Chipiicwa townships, 
was applied for in June. 1888. and was 272 rods long and cost $2^y. 

No. 3 was the Garvin drain, applied for in 1894. It was located in 
Union township, was 495 rods long and cost $538.07. At this time J. M. R. 
Kennedy was county drain commissioner. 

No. 4 was the McDonald Creek drain, applied for in 1892. and was lo- 
cated in the townships of Wise and Vernon, was 408 rods long and total 
cost was $948.48. The total cost of the drain in all cases also embraces 



282 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

the costs of the necessary bridges and culverts, not only on the highways 
that cross the drain, but also the culverts and bridges from the highway to 
the farmers' premises. 

No. 5 was the Jasper drain, located in Coe and Midland townsiiips. The 
proportion belonging to Coe is only given. This drain in Coe was 432 rods 
in length and cost $1,515. 

No. 6 was the Dutt drnin, applied for in 1892, was 590 rods in length 
and cost $600. 

No. 7, the Coe and Lincoln drain, was appliefl for in 1894. was 105 
rods long- and cost $170.12. 

No. 8, the Miser drain, located in Chippewa and L'nion. was applied iov 
in 1894, was 900 rods long and cost $1,084.15. 

No. 9 was the Potter Creek drain, located in Union, Lincoln, Chippewa 
and Coe, was applied for in 1894, was 1,408 rods long and cost $2,009.13. 

No. 10 was the Willow Lake drain, applied for in 1894, located in Ver- 
non, cost $1,296.63, and was 544 rods in length. 

No. II, the Hunter drain, in Coe, was 492 rods long and cost $368.36. 

No. 12, the Keyes drain, in Coe and Lincoln, is 440 rods long and cost 
$409.39. 

No. 13, the Priestly drain, applied for in 1894, is located in Chippewa, 
is 348 rods in length and cost $288.38. 

No. 14, the North Branch drain, applied for in 1896, is located in the 
townships of Gilmore, Vernon, Isabella and Nottaway, is 976 rods in length 
and cost those benefited $5,606.45. 

No. 15 is the Brodie Improvement Count\- drain, and was applied for 
in 1894. It affects the townships of L^nion, Lincoln, Coe and Chippewa, is 
912 rods in length and was dug at an expense of $1,056.87. 

No. 16 is the Vinson Creek drain, located in Isabella and Nottawav. 
cost $547.85 and is 472 rods in length. 

No. 17 is in Lhiion and Lincoln and is called the Stilwell drain. It was 
applied for in 1894, is 620 rods long and built at a cost of $721.14. 

No. 18, the Horning drain, was applied for in 1894, is 1,104 '"Ofl"' '" 
length and was built at a cost of $3,504.57. 

No. 19, the Smith drain located in Deerfield and Nottawa, was ap- 
plied for in 1895, was 180 rods long and cost $230.74. 

No. 20, the Taylor drain, in Coe, was applied for in 1897, '* 138 ''ods 
long and co.st $107.55. 

No. 21, the Tobacco extension, was applied for in 1897 ''"f' ^-'"-'^'^ \'ernon 
people $94.78. 



ISABELLA COINTV. MICHIGAN. 283 

No. 22 is the Wingf drain, in A'enKMi. and i.-; 890 rods long and cost 

$i,843-5i- 

No. 2T). Schofiekl, applied for in 1895. is in Gilmore and Xoltaway, is 

582 rods in length and cost to construct $1,684.28. 

No. 24. tlie Knipe drain, asked tor in 1897, is 582 rods long and cost 
$706.37. 

No. 23, tlie Sharp drain, asked for in iS(j8. is Cioo rods long and cost 
$1,066.21. 

No. 26. the 'Piiacher drain, in Lincoln, is 195 rods long ami cost $285.67. 

No. 2y. the Richardson drain, was petitioned for in 1898, is 304 rods 
long and cost $384.70. 

No. 28. the I'air drain, was applied for in 1898. is 776 rculs long and 
cost $893.55. 

No. 29, the X'arnuni (hain. applied for in 1898. is -^i;!^ rods long and 
cost $520. 

No. 30. the Gilmore drain, in (iilniore. apphed for in 189R. is 222 rods 
long and cost $350. 

No. 31, the Duncan drain, in X'ernon and Mt. Pleasani. .applied for in 
1898. is 1,760 rods long and cost $3,530. 

No. 2^2. the Hance improvement drain, in I'nion and (."!iip]K'\\:i. apiilieil 
for in 1898, is 950 rods long and cost ,$4,028.64. 

No. },;>,. the Bachelder drain, in Lincoln and Fremont, applied for in 
1898. is 1,971 rods long and cost $3,571.67. 

No. 34, the Hutchinson drain, in Coe, applied for in 1899. is 1,106 rods 
long and cost $2,456.95. 

No. ^i,. the Granger drain, in Chii)|)e\\a. ;i])plied for in 1898, is 640 
rods long and cost $856.57. 

No. 36. the Rarden & Ross drain, in Coe, a|)])lied for in 1S99, is 336 
rods long and cost $369.80. 

No. 37, the McKinnon drain, in X'ernon. ap])lied for in 1899, is 192 
rods long and cost $460.93. 

No. 2^, ihe Gorr drain, in \'crnon, applied for in 1900. is ij8 rods long 
and cost $434. 

No. 39. the Lo\e drain, in Xott.awa. applied for in 1898, is 1,028 rods 
long and cost $2,640. 

Xo. 40, the McDonald drain, in Nernoii and Wise, applied for in 1899. 
is 779 rods long and cost $2,413.54. 

Xo. 41, the North Branch Extension drain, in Union, \'ernon. Deer, 
Isahella, Xottawa and Gilmore. applied for in 1898. is 2.624 rotls long and 
cost $20,846.76. 



284 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

No. 2, the Burgess Extension drain, in Nottawa and Gilmore. ap]ilied 
for in 1902, is 78 rods long and cost $153. 

No. 43. tlie Willow Lake Extension drain, in Vernon, applied for in 
1902, is 184 rods long and cost $407.05. 

No. 44, the Seely drain, in Vernon, applied for in 1899, is 590 rods 
long and cost $1,439.30. 

No. 45, the Saunders New Improved drain, in Lincoln, applied for 
in 1899, is 505 rods long and cost $2,133.30. 

No. 46, the Wyant drain, in Lincoln, applied for in 1899, is 924 rods 
long and cost $1,264.30. 

No. 47, the Stanly Improved drain, in Fremont, applied for in 1897, 
is 1,630 rods long and cost $4,435. 

No. 48, the Calkins drain, in Isabella, applied for in 1899, is i.ioo rods 
long and cost $2,737.40. 

No. 49, the Nevil drain, in Vernon, applied for in 1899, is 764 rods long 
and cost $1,858.01. 

No. 50, the Wise drain, in Wise and Denver, applied for in 1899, is 
1,845 ''ods long and cost $4,033. 

No. 51, the Ewing drain, in Coe, applied for in 1900, is 1,224 rods long 
and cost $2,395. 

No. 52, the Horning drain, in Nottawa and Vernon, applied for in 

1900, is 945 rods long and cost $3,504.57. 

No. 53, the Mitchell drain, in Coe, applied for in 1901, is 1,648 rods 
long and cost $5,937.11. 

No. 54, the Best drain in Coe, applied for in 1901, is 734 rods long 
and cost $1,854.94. 

No. 55, the Struble drain, in Coe, applied for in 1901, is 1.382 rods long 
and cost $4,905.90. 

No. 56, the Gilbert drain, in Vernon, applied for in 1902, is 489 rods 
long and cost $887.49. 

No. 57, the Dixon drain, in Vernon, applied for in 1899, is 1.157 rods 
long and cost $5,649.64. 

No. 58, the Vincent Creek drain, in Isabella and Nottawa. applied for 
in 1898, is 1,099 I'ods long and cost $3,506.60. 

No. 59. the Kempter drain, in Chippewa, applied for in 1900, is 417 rods 
long and cost $687.90. 

No. 60, the Quarter Line drain, in Union and Chippewa, applied for in 

1 90 1, is 597 rods long and cost $1,707.11. 

No. 61, the Herring drain, in Vernon, applied for in 1899, is 330 rods 
long and cost $1,800. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 28 







Xo. 62. the Burgess drain, in Xottawa and Gilmore, applied for in 
1900. is 639 rods long and cost $2,181.45. 

No. 63. the \\"hite drain, in Nottawa, applied for in 1900, is 649 rods 
long and cost $2,535.13. 

Xo. 64. the Burdick drain, in Lincoln, applied for in 1901, is 212 rods 
long and cost $571.05. 

Xo. 65, the Hnnt drain, in Fremont. ripi)lie(l for in 1901, is 480 rods 
long and cost $2,020.81. 

Xo. 66, the Coe and Lincoln drain, in Coe and Lincoln, applied for in 
1902. is 640 rods long and cost $2,358.82. 

Xo. 67, the Forest drain, in Xottawa, applied for in 1903, is 160 rods 
long and cost $372.42. 

X^o. 68, the De Pugh drain, in Chippewa, applied for in 1902. is 400 
rods long and cost $2,002.11. 

Xo. 69, the Hance Im])roved drain, in Chippewa, L'nion and .Mt. 
Pleasant, applied for in 1903, is 1,344 rods long and cost $3,600, 

Xo. 70, the Figg drain, in Lincoln, applied fur in 1903, is 1,600 rods 
long and cost $8,000. 

Xo. 71, the Bickerton drain, in Wise, applied for in 1903. is 1,000 rods 
long and cost $4,400. 

Xo. "ji, tlie Hill drain, in Cliippcwa, ajiplied for in 1903, is 560 rods 
long and cost $1,500. 

Xo. "JT^, the Jordon Creek drain, in Isabella, apiilied for in 1903, is 
1,460 rods long and cost $5,200, 

Xo. 74. the Fair drain, in Chippewa, applied for in 1903, is ^J^J^^ rods 
long and cost $765. 

Xo. 75, the Hannett drain, in Coe. applied for in 1903. is 271 nxls 
long and cost $725. 

Xo. 76. the Mission Creek drain, in Union, applied for in 1903, is 1,016 
rods long and cost $4,200. 

Xo. "jy, the Davis drain, in Deertield, ap])lied for in 1904, is 536 rods 
long and cost $2,000. 

Xo. 78, the West Side drain, in Union and Mt. Pleasant, applied for 
in 1904, is 336 rods long and cost $2,150. 

Xo. 79, the Upton drain, in Union, applied for in 1903, is 672 rods long 
and cost $1,550, 

No. 80, the Flood drain, in \'ernon, applied for in 1904, is 88 rods long 
and cost $470. 

Xo. 81. the Loomis drain, in \'ernon and Wise, applied for in 1903. is 
2.662 rods long and cost Si 7.000. 



286 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

No. 82, the Joliii Xeff drain, m Isabella, Deer. Xottawa, Denver and 
Union, applied for in 1903, is 2,752 rods long and cost $12,500. 

Xo. 83, the Lewis drain, in Isabella and Den\er, applied for in 1903, 
is 2,152 rods long and cost $16,000. 

No. 84, the Salt River drain, in Lincoln and Coe, applied for in 1903, 
is 3,184 rods long and cost $20,000. 

Xo. 85, the Riggle ]\Iarsh drain, in Broom, Roll and Fremont, ap- 
plied for in 1904. is 1,280 rods long and cost $4,900. 

Xo. 86, the Huber drain, in Xottav.a, applied for in 1903, is 304 rods 
long and cost $950. 

Xo. 87, the Tice drain, in L'nion, applied for in 1904, is 728 rods long 
and cost $2,300. 

X^o. 88, the Dnncan drain, in \*ernon, applied for in 1903, is 1,644 rods 
long and cost $1,400. 

Xo. 89, the Forest drain, in X'ottawa, applied for in 1903, is 1.056 rod.s 
long and cost $4,700. 

Xo. 90, the Knight drain, in Fremont, applied for in 1904, is 1.456 rods 
long and cost $3,300. 

X'^o. 91, the Williams drain, in Fremont, applied for in 1904, is 560 rods 
long and cost $1,400. 

No. 92, the Church drain, in Coe and Chippewa, applied for in 1903, i.s 
1,176 rods long and cost $3,700. 

X'^o. 93, the Miser drain., in Union and Chippewa, applied for in 1903, is 
1,472 rods long and cost $2,500. 

Xo. 94, the Lowe drain, in X'ottawa, applied for in 1904, is 280 rods 
long and cost $240. 

No. 95, the Cotter drain, in X^^ Ottawa, applied for in 1904, is 256 rods 
long and cost $650. 

X^o. 96, the Howard drain, in Rolland and Fremont, applied for in 
1904, is 480 rods long and cost $1,600. 

No. 97, the Grimm drain, in Lincoln, applied for in 1904, is 176 rods 
long and cost $400. 

No. 98, the Stiwell drain, in Fremont and Union, applied for in 1904, 
is 544 rods long and cost $700. 

X'o. 99, the Pitts drain, in Nottawa, applied for in 1904, is -/Z rods long 
and cost $163. 

Xo. 100, the Thorp drain, in Coe, applied for in 1904, is 144 rods long 
and cost $435. 



ISABELLA COLNTV. M ICIIKIAX. 287 

No. loi. the Curtis drain, in Wise, applied for in 1903. is 944 rods long 
and cost $3,500. 

No. 102, the Seiter drain, in X'crnnn. apjjlied for in 1904. is 608 rods 
long and cost is pending. 

No. 103, tlie 1 lowland tlrain. in Xernon. applied for in 1903, is 608 rods 
long and cost $1,700. 

No. 104, the \\'agner drain, in .Xottawa. a])plied for in 1904, is 1,248 
rods long and cost $5,393. 

No. 105, the (iriiett di'ain. in Xottawa and Isabella. ap]ilied fi>r in 
1904. is 3J0 rods long and cost $880. 

No. 106, the Barden & Ross drain, in Coe, applie<l fur in 1905. is 904 
rods long and cost $3,550. 

No. 107. the Cohoon drain, in Tnion and Lincoln. a[)i)lied for in 1904, 
is 736 rods long and cost $800. 

No. 108, the Frost Extension drain, in Coe. applied for in 1904. is 1.068 
rods long and cost $1,500. 

No. 109, the Jefford drain, in I'nion, ap])licd for in 1905, is 223 rods 
long and cost $911. 

No. 110, the Halstead drain, in Chippewa, applied for in 1903, is 904 
rods long and cost $2,721. 

No. Ill, the Dutt & Hart drain, in Cue. applied for in 1904. is 1.500 rods 
long and cost $3,000. 

No. 112. the Little Salt drain, in Cue. applied for in 1904, is 238 rods 
long and cost $4,600. 

No. 113, the McFaren drain, in Coe, applied fnr in 1906. is 429 rods 
long and cost $900. 

No. 114, the Camphell drain, in Coe and Lincoln, applied for in 1906, 
is 570 roils long and cost $2,050. 

No. 115, the Masters drain, in Fremont and R<illand. applied for in 
1906, is 480 rods long and cost $1,282. 

No. 116, the Carpenter drain, in Isabella, applied for in 1906, is 37,2 
rods long and cost $707. 

No. 117, the W'hetney drain, in Isabella, applieil for in ii)o(), is 2H2 
rods long and cost $550. 

No. 118. the Saunders Extension drain, in Lincoln, ajjplied for in 1906, 
is 816 rods long and cost $1,900. 

No. 1 19, the Krick drain, in Coe, ap])Iied for in 1903, is 60 rods long and 
cost $177.60. 



288 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Xo. 1 20. the Little Tobacco drain, in Vernon, applied for in 1906, is 
100 rods long and cost $145.40. 

Xo. 121, the Murry drain, in Lincoln, applied for in 1906, is 240 rods 
long and cost $540. 

Xo. 122, the Priestly drain, in Chippewa, applied for in 1906, is 320 
rods long and cost $450. 

X^o. 123, the Seymour drain, in Gilniore, applied for in 1904, is 480 
rods long and cost $1,587. 

Xo. 124, the Quarter Line drain, in Union and Mt. Pleasant, applied 
for in 1904, is 968 rods long and cost $2,900. 

Xo. 125, the Onion Creek drain, in Union, Chippewa and Mt. Pleasant, 
applied for in 1906, is 1,432 rods long and cost $5,550. 

Xo. 126, the Winn drain, in Fremont, applied for in 1907, is 368 rods 
long and cost $1,725. 

Xo. 127, the Oderkirk drain, in Vernon, applied for in 1907, is 200 rods 
long and cost $825. 

Xo. 1 28, the Conway drain, in Isabella, applied for in 1907, is 688 rods 
long and cost $2,635. 

Xo. 129, the Gilmore drain, in Vernon, applied for in 1905, is 45 rods 
long and cost $146.32. 

X'^o. 130, the Demle drain, in Fremont, applied for in 1907, is 456 rods 
long and cost $1,620. 

Xo. 131, the Parcher drain, in Lincoln, applied for in 1906, is 1,432 
rods long and cost $5,450. 

No. 132, the Ewing drain, in Coe, applied for in 1907, is 410 rods long 
and cost $980. 

Xo. 133, the Atwater drain, in Coe, applied for in 1905, is 752 rods long 
and cost $1,800. 

No. 134, the Potter Brodie drain, in Union, Coe and Chippewa, applied 
for in 1906, is 2,760 rods long and cost $15,860. 

No. 135, the Dubois drain, in Lincoln, applied for in 1907, is 850 rods 
long and cost $3,840. 

No. 136, the Durfee drain, in Chippewa, applied for in 1904, is 728 rods 
long and cost $1,650. 

No. 137, the Willow Lake Extension drain, in Vernon and Gilbert, ap- 
plied for in 1907, is 992 rods long and cost $7,340. 

No. 138, the Murphy drain, in Denver, applied for in 1908, is 201 rods 
long and cost $387. 



ISABELLA COLNTV, MICHIGAN. 289 

Xo. 139, the Paisley drain, in Union, applied iDr in 1909. is 31 j rods 
long and cost $1,200. 

Xo. 140. the Riley drain, in Wise, applied for in 1909. is 31J rods long 
and cost $1,467. 

X'o. 141, the .\dgate drain, in Coe. applied fur in 1908, is 416 rods 
long and cost $1,400. 

Xo. 142. the Hance E.xtension drain, in I'nion, a])])lic(i for in 1909, is 
136 rods long and cost $532. 

Xo. 143. the Salt River Extension drain, in Lincoln, applied for in 

1909. is 334 rods long and cost $859. 

Xo. 144, the Sherman drain, in .Sherman, applied for in 1909, is 240 
rods long and cost $770. 

Xo. 145. the Horning drain, in \'ernon, applied for in 1909. is 1.104 
rods long and cost $1,559. 

Xo. 146, the Lament drain, in Vernon, applied for in 1909, is 140 rods 
long and cost $838. 

Xo. 147, the Hance Improxement drain, in L'nion and Mt. Pleasant, 
applied for in 1910. is 304 rods long and cost $1,198. 

Xo. 148, the Landon drain, in Chi])pe\\a. applied foi- in 1910, is 472 
rods long and cost $1,268. 

X'o. 149. the Lincoln drain, in Lincohi and Fremont. a])plied for in 

19 10. is 584 rods long and cost $1,884. 

Xo. 150. the Hunter drain, in Chippewa, applied for in 19 10. is 673 
rods long and cost $2,168. 

Xo. 151. the Sterling drain, in L'nion and Chi]ipe\va. applied for in 
1910. is 562 rods long and co.st $1,368. 

Xo. 152, the Miles drain, in rhijijicwa. ap])1ied for in 1910. is 400 rods 
long and cost $1,032. 

Xo. 153. the Lawrence drain, in Isahella. Gilmore and \'ernon. ap- 
plied for in 1910, is 176 rods long and cost $655. 

Xo. 154. the Xeff Extension drain, in Union and Chipi)e\va. applied for 
in 1909, is 984 rods long and cost $2,268. 

X^o. 155, the Cotter drain, in Xottawa. applied for in 1910, is 256 rods 
long and cost $27,2. 

Xo. 156. the Smith drain, in Xottawa and Deerfield, applied for in 1909, 
is 321 rods long and cost $432. 

Xo. 157, the Hawe Joint drain, in Wise and \'ernon. applied for in 
i<)o8. is 672 rods long and cost $2,788. 

(19) 



290 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

The length of the several drains is, in rods, 111,176, or, in round num- 
bers in miles. 357. Their combined cost to the farmers is $^//, 2/6.0/. 

This does not take into consideration any of the individual drains, either 
open or tiled. It must be remembered that in this statement of the cost of the 
drains there should be considered the cost of the culverts and bridges that 
were built at the time of the construction of the drains, the law requiring that 
where it \vas necessary that a liridge or culvert was needed to perfect the 
work that the drain should build it in the first instance and then they were 
turned over to the town authorities to be kept in repair with the other bridges 
and culverts in the township, and those built to accommodate the farm cross- 
ings are to lie built \>y the drain, and when the drain is completed these are to 
belong to the farmer and kept in repair by him. These, however, are all neces- 
sar}- to complete the efficiency of the drain. 

There are now in the hands of the county drain commissioners ten new 
drains that are nearly ready to let, of about 4,000 rods in length and will cost 
when completed something like $15,000. 

We may say here, in passing, that a large proportion of the large drains 
have already been constructed. It is true that many of the old ones will have to 
be cleaned out from time to time and some of them enlarged as the farmers 
continue to lay tile drains in their farms to carry off any surplus waters which 
they are sure to have as long as the rains fall and the snows and ice melt in 
the spring. 

Our county drain commissioners have lieen. first, Alexander Brodie. 
then Anson R. Arnold, J. M. R. Kennedy, Allen S. Clay, Sherman D. Eldred, 
C. H. Freeman, W. E. Dersnah and Cecil I\I. Johnson, the present incumbent 
of the office. 

boys' corn club. 

\\'e are pleased to record another new and interesting departure from 
the old beaten track and that is the formation of a Boys' Corn Clul). which 
was inaugurated this year for the first. It is another step in the right direc- 
tion and if continued, and it will be, we shall reap a rich reward far beyond 
our highest expectations. This club was organized in 1910 by a few progres- 
sive educators, who are disposed to climb out of the old rut and, if possible, 
induce the boys to spend some of their spare time in the eflucation of the 
agricultural propensities of their natures. 

The week commencing with January 16. igio. was a week of institutes. 
Monday, the i6th, was a day set apart for the Teachers' Association Institute, 
and it pro\-ed to be a \-ery interesting day, there being some six hundred stu- 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MKHIGAX. 2y I 

dents and teacliers present tci listen to the addresses of Professor Harvey, uf 
Stont Inslitnte, and 1 'resident Lancaster, of Olivet College. There were fnlly 
one hnndred of the rural teachers present to listen to the messages of these 
older and more experienced teachers and we are sure that it was an inspiration 
to them. 

Tuesday was dexxited to the Corn Clul) ;nid tlie Iidvs lh(in)Ughly enjoyed 
it. There were ninety-eiglit ho\'s wlin tcmk diinier and lisicni'il to the talk of 
President Grawn, of the Normal School, subject. "The Boys;"' ahso Judge 
Dodds. who spoke on the subject of "The Law." William Cooper sang 
"Jamie Ryan:" Rev. C. W. Campbell also gave an interesting and instructive 
talk to the boys. 

There were thirty-four charter members in the clul) and thirty-four ex- 
hibits were presented. We here give a li.st of the boys wild won prizes; i. 
Clayton Taylor of Fremont. No. 7 ; 2, Kenneth Bandeen. Chippewa, No. i ; 
3, Norman Salsbury, Chippewa, No. 6; 3, C. Wood, Uninn. training school, 
Mt. Pleasant; 4. Howard Zufelt. Fremont, No. 4; 4, Lloyd Rowlander, Lin- 
coln. No. 2; 4. Harold Waldron. L^nion, No. 3; 4, LeRoy Judy, Lincoln, No. 
I ; 4, Kenneth Cole, Union, No. 3; 4, Charles Richardson, Fremont. No. 2; 
5, Floyd na\is. I'remoiit. No. 4; 5. I'rank Ouinlan, Sacred Heart .Academy; 5, 
.Alfred Hann. Lincoln, No. 7; 5, Charles Richardson, Broomticld. No. g; 5. 
Arthur .\cheson. Coldwater. No. (>; 3. .Mien McNeil, Gilmore, No. 2; 5, 
Leon Hart, Gilmore, No. 4- 5, Franklin Graham, Gilmore, No. 2; 5. Jeet 
Heinzelman. Broomfield, No. 9; 5, .\rthur Alanausa, L'nion. No. 5. 

The first prize is ten dollars and a scholarship at Michigan .Agricultural 
College; the second prize, five dollars and a scholarshi]) at Alichigan .Agricul- 
tural College; third prize, three dollars: fourth prize, two dollars, and fifth 
prize, one dollar. Each contestant gets five walnut trees free. The Exchange 
Savings Bank gave a large, beautiful United States flag to the Fremont dis- 
trict No. 7. whose boy won the first i)rize. H. C. Cassette is the teacher in 
that district. 

Clayton Taylor is thirteen years old. The method he employed in his 
prize effort will be interesting to others. Master Taylor plowed his one- 
eighth acre .April 15, harrowed it May 4, 7. 16, 21, 26 and 2-. Planted it May 
19. Cultivated it June 7. 14. 13. 20, 23 and July 1. 13. z}, and 30. Used l)arn- 
yard manure for fertilizer b'irst tassel api)eared July 4. First ripe ear 
September 6. Cut the corn October i. Yield fourteen forty-pound crates. 
Estimated cost, two dollars and twenty-eight cents. The soil was clay. There 
were eighty-six boys enrolle>l during the year and more will surely be enrolled 
for the coming vear, as the scheme seems to suit the boys. There is thought 
in the direction now of organizing the girls also. 



292 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

THE GRANGE. 

The Grange is an important institution and one that has done much to- 
ward a better understanding of farming. It has been very productive of a 
better understanding of the rights of the farmer and has served to make them 
more social and better acciuainted than ever before in the historv of the race. 
It is lainentable tliat more of the farmer population do not join in these 
societies and accept the advantages they might have by contact with their 
neighbors and get more of the spirit of advancement in farming as well as 
in the matter of education in other matters. We all desire to see a better 
and more intelligent state of society and yet many we find that have such a 
fund of self-complacency that nothing but dynamite can evuv raise them out 
of the rut their forefathers run in. 

A good start, howe\'er, has been made and, with agriculture in the 
schools, we hope to see the dawn of a better condition of things. 

A Grange was organized about six or seven years ago in Lincoln, with 
such farmers as Edward Decker, Charles Proudly. Charles Hand, F. Kyes 
and others of the progressive men of the farm, and is now swelled to about 
seventy-fi\e members. They meet every month and are prosperous in numbers 
as well as in social and agricultural information. They are thrifty and proud 
of their success as an institution for the betterment of its members. 

There is also one in the township of Fremont, of about twent\' memljers. 
who are doing what they can to improve their condition and make life on the 
farm more pleasant and less irksome than it was in former days. They meet 
in the Maccabee hall. 

Union township has a Grange organization in the south part of the town. 
They have no hall, but have a good class of live farmers in it, consisting of C. 
Mead, E. R. Waldron. W. H. Wood. John Maxwell, Jr., \Mieeler Bandeen, 
Edward Salsbury, J. Kennedy, Lee Miller and others. They meet and can- 
vass the best means of improving their conditions and the best way to get 
the most out of their efforts. It is a good organization and worth}- of all the 
efforts they can give to it. 

There is also a Grange hall and society on the south side of section 4, in 
Union township, with T. Walton as master and Dan }iIcLaughlin. o\'erseer, 
Fred Earner, secretary, and tliirty-fi\e members that pay state dues. 
They are in fine condition and are getting all and more than it costs out of 
the organization. 

In Denver township there is a Grange at Delwin. J. W. Keller, master, 
and T. M. Gregor. secretary, with a fair number nf acti\e and substantial 
members. 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 293 

At Rosebush, in Isabella townsiiii). there is another (iran<(e order. 

In Brinton there was a Grange established some time ago. W. F. Clark, 
Richard Murphy and B. B. Stevens are among the leaders, which is a guarantee 
that it is a good one and doing good work in that neck of the woods. 

In iQOO an organization was effected in (lilmore and they are located at 
the same place as the Baptist cliurcii. 1. E. Gamble, master, G. A. Pitts, over- 
seer, H. A. Perry, secretaiy, Frank Rawson, treasurer, with about fifty mem- 
bers, and all working together for the good of the order and the improvement 
of their own condition as farmers. They all seem to imbil)e the same spirit 
as to tlie value of such an organization and the benefit it is to them and to 
their children. Long may this good cheer permeate that community. 

Mt. \'ernon Grange was organized some time ago in Vernon township. 
Their hall is located on section 14, and is a good one for the purpose. With 
William McKav as master, and one hundred and twenty members as a sup- 
port, we can well imagine that they have one of the very best in the county. 
They are doing fine work, are prosperous and happy in their prosperity. They 
all feel that there is nothing along the line of improvement to the farmer that 
can compete with the Grange unless it l)e their twin sister, the Farmers Clul). 

farmers' clubs. 

The Farmers" Clubs, organized and sustained among the farmers of the 
county, is another advance step toward the betterment of farm society and is 
an educator in more ways than one. It cements the farm interests, it gives 
the men and women a better and more intimate ac(|uaintance with one another, 
gives them ease in society and enables them to express themselves in public 
and when on their feet. It gives them an invitation and desire to express 
their views on any subject before the audience. Many today are among our 
most entertaining speakers, who only a siiort time ago felt that they could 
not rise in public and express their tlioughts. Long may the Farmers' Club 
be a thing of interest and ])rofit to the people and long may it be before it 
shall lag or die out unless th.e ingenuity of men or women shall devise some- 
thing better to take its place. 

Lincoln township boasts of a Farmers' Club, which meets monthly at 
different farmers' residences and discusses important matters pertaining to 
the farmer's calling and, don't forget, they not only talk and learn from one 
another, but they have music, declamation and dinner, and such a dinner as 
can be found at no other place but a farmer's. They embrace such families as 
George Wilse. Mel Castle, Ed Decker. Wilson and many others. 



294 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

In Broomfield township they have had a Farmers" Club for tlie past ten 
years. E. W'. Woodruff is president and is supported by about fifty members. 
They meet every month and are prosperous and happy. 

Union township also has a Farmers' Club, which has been running ever 
since 1895, and is still keeping up its interest and numbers. It is supported by 
the following as some of the influential members : W. E. ^Valdron, W. H. 
Wood, W. Prescott, J. Maxwell, Jr., W. W. Preston and others. They ha\e 
their monthly meetings and have a good time generally. They have no desire 
nor intention of discontinuing their meetings, for they find it a great source 
of information as well as pleasure. 

In Wise and Vernon townships they have a joint Farmers' Club, which 
is well patronized, and each year they hold a picnic at Stevenson's lake 
and ha\'e a good time generally. They announce the time of their picnic so 
that the people generally have knowledge of the time and they generally have 
some speakers of prominence from outside of Isabella and sometimes some 
of the talent of the county. Thousands congregate on some of these occasions 
and are very much interested in their gatherings. 

The Deerfield Farmers' Club was organized February 21, 1895, with the 
following as charter members : William and Clary Redfield. Franklin and 
Clarasa Rhodes, Columbus Coles and wife, Mary E., N. V. Coomer and his 
wife, Ella A.. John D. Gulick and wife, Mary G., F. M. Boyden and Lucy B. 
Boyden, George D. Brown and Mary B. Brown, Sam Johnston and wife, 
Sarah B., George A. and Eliza L. Lucas, William R. Hollowat and wife, 
Sarah H., Samuel Topley and wife, Eliza, Alva D. and Nancy Weston. The 
second meeting they added twenty-six new members. The first meeting was 
held at the residence of John D. Gulick and they had royal good time. 

The first officers were Columbus Coles, president ; F. Rhodes, vice-presi- 
dent ; Ella A. Coomer, recording secretary ; N. V. Coomer. corresponding 
secretary; Mary Gulick, treasurer, with F. 'Si. Boyden and George D. Brown 
as directors. They keep up their meetings from month to month and at their 
annual election they appoint the places of their meetings for the coming vear 
so that each one knows when their turn comes to prepare for a feast. They 
all feel proud of their society and think that it has done more toward breaking 
the ice between the farmers than any other method e\er devised. They have 
now been at work for sixteen }ears and there is as much interest and enthus- 
iasm as at first. Samuel Craft, one of their old members, used to be an en- 
thusiast and was very much taken up with the work. Sam was also a great 
lover of fine swine and used to raise some very fine ones, so when his time 
came to spread the feast he selected the finest of the herd and proceeded to 



ISABELLA COUXTV. MUIIICAX. 295 

prepare and iMast it. wliicli lie could do to the queen's taste and when the 
Iiousetul iiad arrived and dinner was called there was presented a feast suffi- 
cient to regale the gods. At one of their gatherings the guests numhered 
one hundred and thirty-six and a number of times it has exceeded one hun- 
dred. They take in a radius of ahout eighteen miles, so that they lia\e a good 
large country to draw from. 

Another thing they are claiming is that their organization is not a secret 
one. hut entirely a mutual, social and beneficial one. No secrets to keep or 
divulge, but a good time socially and one thai shall make them all more social 
and intelligent: a sort of a brotherly love institution that also includes the 
ladies. Long may it live and do good. 

This claims to be the oldest society of the kind in the county and it looks 
as if it was, as they organized in February, 1895: however, the one in Union 
township was organized in 1895. but we have not the exact date. 

farmers' schools. 

There is one more innmation in the old methods among the farmers or 
rather want of method, and that is the recent o])ening of a school f(jr farmers 
where the best scientific as well as the l)esl posted and most successful farmers 
meet and conduct a regular school of instruction. Any and all of the farmers 
are invited to attend and it is proving to be a wonderful advantage to all 
those that attend the school. That and the introduction of agriculture in the 
day schools is sure t(j be repaid four-fold in the near future, ihe old idea 
that any fool can be a good farmer is fully exploded and now the man that 
can make two blades of grass grow where formerly grew but one is con- 
sidered a philanthropist. \\'hat shall the man be who can raise two bushels 
of wheat or corn where l)ut one is raised today or that can add one-half to 
the production of the soil of all kinds and of all kinds of crops? 

Remember that we as a country are very near the boundary line when 
we shall pass by the time when our country will raise all of the food grains 
demanded for the wants of the .American people. 

KSAIiELI-A COrXTV Ai;UU L LTURAL .SOCIETY. 

.\bout the first day of March. :88o, a citizens' meeting was called to take 
into consideration the advisability of forming an agricultural society for the 
county of Isabella. At such meeting ([uite a number of the farmers and 
citizens of Mt. Pleasant met at the court house and, after some consultation. 



296 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

it was thought advisable to undertake such an organization and a committee 
was appointed to draft a constitution and by-laws and to present them to an 
adjourned called meeting. 

Hon. John Maxwell was the chairman of the first meeting and called a 
meeting to be held at the court house on the 20th day of Alarch, 1880, to 
receive the report of the committee on constitution and by-laws. 

At such meeting Major J- W. Long submitted the following as the report 
of the committee : 

"Articles of association of the Isabella County Agricultural Society. 
Know all men by these presents, that on this 20th day of March, A. D. 1880, 
at J\lt. Pleasant, Michigan, in pursuance of the statute in such cases made 
and provided, 

"We, the undersigned citizens of said county and state, have formed 
ourselves into an association to be called and known as 'The Isabella County 
Agricultural Society of the State of Michigan.' 

"The business and object of such society shall lie the promotion of the 
agricultural interests of Isabella county, Michigan, by the dissemination of 
knowledge among its members, the holding of fairs, and such other means 
to this end as may seem best to those having the matter in charge. 

"The officers of the society shall consist of a president, sixteen vice- 
presidents (one from each township in the county), a secretary and treasurer, 
such ofificers to constitute, ex-officio, the board of trustees, directors or mana- 
gers, the secretary to act as secretary of such board." 

The report as read was accepted and adopted and the society p/oceeded to 
elect officers as follows : 

President, Isaac A. Fancher: Mr. Maxwell then vacated the chair, giving 
it to Mr. Fancher, who proceeded with the election of vice-presidents as fol- 
lows: Broomfield, John Hutchinson: Chippewa, Ephraim .\. Salisbury: Wise, 
George M. Quick; Isabella. Joseph Graham. Sr. : Lincoln, Zerah Burr; Deer- 
field. Samuel Craft; Gilmore, Prince H. Robbins; Sherman, James H. Tinker; 
Coe, William B. Bowen ; Den\'er, Jesse H. Jordan; \'ernon, James A. Con- 
verse; Union, Thomas J. Root; Fremont, John Ulam ; Xnttawa, ]\Iichael 
]\IcGihan; Coldwater. William B. Forbes: Rolland, William Beckley. 

The society then proceeded to the election of secretary and treasurer, 
resulting as follows: Secretary, James W. Long, and for treasurer, John 
Maxwell. 

The following original members signed the articles of association : I. 

A. Fancher, James W. Long, John iVIaxwell, Samuel Craft. Zerah Burr, W. 

B. Bowen. Thomas J. Root, Henry Burr, E. .-\. Salsbury, J. W. Hance, Lewis 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 297 

Hawkins, John RowlaiukT, Micliacl Mc(jilian and William lliiMniilield. four- 
teen in all. 

The customary affidavit of acknowledgment was attached to the arti- 
cles. The following paid the membership fee of one dollar to the secretary, 
which was by him handed to the treasurer: Samuel Craft. Thomas J. Root, 
Zerah Burr. W. l'>. Rowen. John ^la.xwell, Henry Rurr. E. A. Salslniry J. 
W. Hance. William Rroomtleld. M. McCiihan: total, ten dollars. 

The meeting thereupon adjourned to meet again at the same ])lace on 
Saturday. April lo, 1880, at ten o'clock a. m. 

At Mt. Pleasant. .Xpril lotli. the society met i)ursuant to adjournment, 
President Fancher in the cliair. A. S. Fay ])aid liis membershi]) fee to the 
secretary and received his certificate. 

Called to order and the minutes of previous proceedings read bv the 
secretary. On motion of Samuel Craft, tbcv were accepted and adopted. 

Samuel Craft addressed the meeting in regard to the appointment of a 
committee, and also in relation to the selecting of grounds for the joint pur- 
poses of a driving park association and fair jnirposes. 

On motion of Samuel Craft, the president was instructed to appoint a 
committee to prepare a constitution and by-laws. The following were ap- 
pointed as such committee : Samuel Craft. Henry Burr and James A\'. Long. 

.\pril .23. 1880. the society met at ten a. m. and adjourned to one p. m.. at 
which time it again assembled, with President Fancher in the chair. 

The minutes of previous meeting were read and approved. 

Major Long, from the committee on constitution and by-laws, made the 
following report, which on motion w;is accepted and adopted, as follows: 

CONSTITUTION. 

.\rticle L This society shall be called "Isabella County .-\gricultural 
Society." auxiliary to the "Michigan State Agricultural Society." and the 
same is organized and established for the encouragement and advancement 
of agriculture, manufacture and the mechanics arts. 

.\rticle n. Any person may become a member of this society by paying 
one dollar ($1.00) into the treasury. Life membership may be obtained on 
payment of the sum of ten dollars ($10.00). 

.\rticle HI. The officers of this society shall consist of a president, six- 
teen vice-presidents (one from each township), a treasurer and .secretary, 
such officers to constitute, ex-officio. tiie board of directors or managers, and 
be called the executive board, the secretary to act as scretarv of such board. 



298 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Article 1\'. Duties of Officers — Sectiun i. The president, or in his ab- 
sence, one of tlie vice-presidents, and in case neither are present, such one of 
the members as the society may elect, may preside at all meetings of the 
society. 

Sec. 2. The secretary shall keep a record of all members of the society 
and of its proceedings, and shall also be secretary of the executive board, and 
shall attend to such other business as usually pertains to such office, and shall 
turn over all books, monies and papers belonging to such office to his successor. 

Sec. 3. The treasurer shall receive all monies of the society and expend 
the same only by direction of the executive board on the order of the presi- 
dent, countersigned by the secretary. He shall keep a correct account of all 
receipts and exi)enditures, and make a full written report, .at each annual 
meeting of the societ\-, of his affairs as treasurer, and shall give bonds for the 
faithful performance of his duties in such penalty and with such securitv as 
the board may direct. Said bond to be filed with the secretarv within ten 
days after such election, and shall turn over all monies, books and papers 
belonging to such office to his successor. 

Sec. 4. It shall be the duty of the executive board to exercise a general 
supervision over the affairs of the society: to appropriate the funds of the 
same in such a manner as shall, in their judgment, best subserve the interests 
and forward the objects of tlie society; to call special meetings when necessar}-, 
to appoint marshals, superintendents and examining committees. Said board 
to designate the days for holding the fair and the premiums to be awarded, 
giving at least ninety days' public notice of the same, and to make the neces- 
sary preparations for holding said fair, and to adopt a code of Ijy-laws, and 
publish the same with the constitution, for the l^enefit of the society ; and they 
may, from time to time, alter or amend said by-laws, by a majority of the 
board present. 

Sec. 5. It shall be the duty of the vice-presidents to receive and distribute 
in their several townships premium lists, circulars, and such other matter as 
shall be forwarded to them from time to time, and to encourage the bringing 
forward articles for exhil)ition, and to look after the welfare and interests of 
the society in their townships. 

Article V. The annual meeting of this society, for the election of officers 
and the transaction of other necessary business, shall be held on Saturday 
following the 20th day of March, in each year (unless otherwise determined by 
the executive board), at such place as the board shall appoint, the}- giving 
suitable notice thereof. 

Article VI. The society shall hold an annual fair and general exhibition 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICfllGAN. 299 

of animals, agricultural and horticultural products, articles of domestic 
manufacture and of the mechanic arts, and also such other matters as the 
executive hoard shall determine. 

Article \"II. Xo premium shall he given to any one not a memher of 
the society. 

Article \'III. Any vacanc\- in the office of the society may he tempo- 
rarily tilled hy the executive Ijoard. 

Article IX. The constitution may he altered nr amended at any regular 
annual meeting of the society h\' a two-thirds \(ite of the mcmhers present. 

.\rticle X. It shall he the duty of the several officers to ohtain the 
names of persons wishing to hecome memhers of the society, and to jiay over 
to the treasurer all monies received for memljership and as donations. 

BY-L.\\VS. 

Section i. It shall he the duty of the marshal to maintain order, to 
assign to the superintcnilenl>^ the places to he occui)ied In- the classes under 
their supervision: and at all times shall he suhject to the direction of the 
e.xecutive hoard. Any memher who shall refuse to ohey the marshal, when 
acting within the sphere of his duty, shall he expelled from the society. 

Section 2. Xo article shall lie entitled to a premium Init such as helongs 
to and hona fide propertx' of the competitors, .\pplicants. when re(|uired, 
shall give written statements relative to the article exhiljited. and shall he 
prepared to give satisfactory evidence to sustain them. 

Section 3. The viewing committees shall he attended to the pens by 
the superintendent, and any owner of stock or memher of the society who 
shall attemjit to influence the decision of the committee shall forfeit all claim 
to a premium. .\ny niemler who shall refuse to obey the superintendent, 
when acting within the sphere of his duty, shall he expelled from the society. 

Section 4. All reports of viewing committee shall be in writing, and 
signed by the members of the committees assenting thereto : and premiums 
shall be conferred on the award of the majority of the committee. 

Section 5. X"o animal ])resented for competition shall be entitled to re- 
ceive more than one premium annually in any one class, and shall not show 
in more than one class, unless it be herds of cattle, special and sweepstakes 
premiums, drawing, walking or trotting. 

Section 6. \\'hen there is but one exhibitor in a class or subdivision of 
a class, the article or animal will be awarded the first or second premium or 
none at all. as the judges shall tleem it worthy. 



300 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Section 7. Tlie executive board shall audit the accounts of the treasurer 
and, if found correct, shall certify to the same, prior to its submission to the 
annual meetings of the society. 

Section 8. It shall be the duty of the president, upon application of five 
members of the executive board, to call a meeting of the same for the 
transaction of business. 

Section 9. No person shall be entitled to vote unless he shall have com- 
plied with the provisions of the constitution. 

RULES AND REGULATIONS MEMBERSHIP, ADMISSIONS AND ENTRIES. 

1. The payment of ten dollars at once constitutes a life member, who is 
entitled to receive (on presentation of his ticket at the treasurer's office) all 
of the privileges of the society grounds during the exhibition, and also en- 
titles them to enter articles for exhibition under the rules of the society. 

2. Any person paying into the treasury the sum of one dollar previous 
to the closing of the books, shall be entitled to four single admission tickets 
to the annual fair and to make any entries under the rules of the society. 

3. Persons wishing for passes for necessary attendants on stock, will be 
furnished with such passes upon application to the superintendent of the 
grounds, which passes will be good only at the exhibitors' gate and for the 
person named therein. Any attempt to use such pass b)- any person not 
entitled thereto will be regarded by the society as a forfeiture thereof. If 
partners or joint owners of articles entered are present, each one must be a 
member of the society. 

4. All persons renting booths, stands or grounds, for the purpose of fur- 
nishing articles for sale, or for any other speculative purpose, shall furnish 
themselves and their attendants with passes. 

PRICE OF ADMISSION. 

For each admission $ .25 

For children between eight and twehe years 15 

For admittance for single horse and carriage 25 

For two horses drawing carriage 50 

For one horse 25 

5. Each person in a carriage must have an admission ticket, and all 
admission tickets will be taken up at the gate, before person or team are al- 
lowed to pass. No check or other ticket will be given at the gate and n>< 
money allowed to be paid at the gate for admission under any pretext what- 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 3OI 

ever. The foregoing regulations of admission and L-ntries are adopted 1)\' 
the executive board. 

6. The secretary will furnish complimentary tickets to clergymen and 
such \isitors from abroad as the executi\e 1)oard shall direct. 

7. -Ml articles or animals offered for premiums nuist Ijc entered 1)\- the 
owner, iiis agent or a memlier of his famil\- entitled tn adniissiim under his 
ticket, and must be owned in the county, except foreign stock. 

8. All articles and animals intended for exhibition must l)e entered in 
the secretary's office before entering the fair ground.s, and receive a card w ith 
a number, as entereil upon the books. 

9. -Ml articles for exhibition to be designated by the name of the cxiiib- 
itor. instead of numbers. 

10. Exhibitors are requested to ni.ike their entries on or l)efore the first 
day of the fair. The Iiooks will pnsitiveK' lie closed (ill the evening of the 
second day. 

11. Xo animal or article can lie taken from the ground during the con- 
tinuance of the fair without permission from a member of the executixe board. 

12. Feed will be furnished upon the fair gnmnds at the expense of the 
society, for animals entered for exhiliition. 

13. When there is but one exhibitor in a class, or subdixision of a class, 
the article or animal will be awarded a first or second premium, as the judges 
may deem it worthy, and no premium shall be awarded when the article or 
animal is unworthy, though there be no competition. 

14. .Ml discretionary premiums recommended by the jiulges shall be 
subject to the approval of the executixe board, and iiie\ ma\' modifv or refuse 
to allow the same as they deem proper. 

15. The judges are requested to file their re|)ort with the secretary at 
or before ten o'clock in the forenoon of the last day of the fair. 

16. All stock entered as thoroughbred must be accompanied w ith a con- 
cise written statement, certified to by the owner, showing their age, breed 
and pedigree. 

1 7. -Ml horses entered as matched horses must be owned by the same 
person and kept as a span. 

18. Cards or ribbons will be furnished liy the judges, to lie ])laced on 
articles or animals, when decisions are made. First jirize. blue; second jirize. 
red ; third prize, white. 

19. Under no circumstances shall any liooths or stand be rented for the 
sale of intoxicating li(|uors on the ground, nor shall any such sale be alh^wed. 
Xor shall any game of chance, lottery or prize package scheme be allowed. 

.\fter the adoption of the constitution and by-laws, on motion of Major 



302 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Long, a committee of five was appointed by the chair to look up a suital)le 
ground and ascertain the price and terms. The foHowing gentlemen were 
then appointed: Messrs. A. S. Fay, T. J. Root, Joseph A. Graham, Jessie H. 
Jorden and Henry Burr. 

The secretary was instructed to have printed five hundred copies of the 
constitution and by-laws, after which the meeting adjourned to meet at the 
call of the president. 

Another meeting was called to meet on the 26th day of June, 1880. They 
met as per call, but, the committee on grounds not being ready to report, the 
meeting was adjourned until July 3d, at which time the committee reported 
in favor of the purchase of the southeast quarter of the northeast 
quarter of section 10, township 14 north, range 4 west, being about one niile 
from the village of Mt. Pleasant in a north direction. The price to be paid 
was seven hundred dollars. 

At a meeting of the society held on the 8th day of October, article V of 
the constitution was amended so as to provide for holding the annual meeting 
on the last day of the fair in each year. 

The fair grounds were partially cleared 1)y the citizens and farmers by 
means of bees, and on June 21, 1881, a meeting was held of the society, at 
which meeting it was decided to hold a county fair for that year and also 
that the county should be represented at the state fair for that year. At this 
meeting Henry A. Dunton was made a committee to let the job for clearing 
twenty acres more of the grounds. 

At the meeting on June 4, 1881, Mr. Fancher tendered his resignation as 
president of the society and John T. Landon was elected in his place. 

The first fair was held on October 18, 19 and 20, 1881. The following 
were the division superintendents : Division A, horses, V. L. Brown ; division 
B, cattle, John D. Richmond ; division C, D, E, sheep, swine and poultry, 
Michael Flaley : division F, G, grain and vegetables, Joseph A. Graham ; di- 
vision H, fruits, John Fraser; division J, mechanics arts, William R. Crow- 
ley, also for division K. musical instruments; division L and M. dairy and 
domestic manufacturers, P. F. Bennett; division N and O, fancy work, draw- 
ing and painting, Mrs. J. T. Landon; division P, plants and flowers, Mrs. 
William E. Harris; division O, boys and girls, no selection; di\^ision R, music, 
Mrs. J. W. Long. 

At a meeting of the society held at the court house in Mt. Pleasant on 
Alarch 25, 1882, the following were adopted as amendments to the constitu- 
tion : "Article IIL This society shall consist of a president, a vice-president 
for each township, a secretary, a treasurer and an executive committee of five 
members (exclusive of the president and secretary, who shall Ije members 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICUUIAN. 3O3 

ex-ofificio of the committee). Three shall constitute a (luorum for the trans- 
action of business at any meeting of said committee: provided, that each 
member shall have been notified in the usual manner of such meeting. .\I1 
of the above ofificers to l>e elected annually, excepting the executive committee, 
who shall be elected respectively for fi\e. four, three, two and one years, so 
that one vacancy shall occur annually." 

"Article IV. Sec 4. The executive board shall be the iudici;d body of 
the society, and shall enact all laws, rules and regulations governing the 
society, and shall have full charge of the annual exposition and shall fix the 
salaries of the officers. The board shall have power to displace any officer 
for neglect of duty or abu.se of position, and shall fill all vacancies by ap- 
pointment. Meetings may be called l)y the president, or ijy a majority of the 
members of the board. It shall be the duty of the board to look after the 
general welfare of the society; devise new methods of impruvement ; keep the 
society upon a sound financial basis and provide for every necessity as it shall 
arise. All measures of importance shall be sul)mittcd to this board but may 
be referred back to the society.'" 

"Article TX. .\ny addition or revision of these laws may be made by a 
two-thirds vote of the members present at an\- annual meeting of the society, 
one month's notice having been given." 

"Article XI. This society in its regular or special meetings shall be 
governed liy ordinary parliamentary usages." 

"Article XII. This society may hold real estate and i)ersona! property, 
to the amount of twenty thousand dollars." 

The above amendments and additions to the constitution were accepted 
and adopted by a vote of all present excepting one, S. Craft. 

At this meeting the retiring secretar}-, James \\'. Long, made his final 
report of the society, as follows: 

"John T. Landon, president of the society. Sir — At the close of my term 
of office as secretarv of this association, 1 have the honor to submit the fol- 
lowing general rei)ort ; This association was organized into an agricultural 
society March 20. 1880, with Hon. I. A. Fancher as president. J. W. Long as 
secretary and John Maxwell as treasurer. 

"Xo grounds having been purchased, the fir.st fair was held on grounds 
in the corporation limits of the village of Mt. Pleasant, and notwithstanding 
every discouragement, a creditable showing was made. The total receipts 
were five hundred twelve dollars and seventy-four cents, and the total dis- 
bursements were five hundred twelve dollars and twenty-six cents, leaving a 
balance of forty-eight cents." After reviewing and reciting the different 
meetings of the society he further says that "it was decided, on Xo\ember 19, 



304 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

18S1, to give a note of the society or rather of its individual members for the 
sum of one tiiousand five hundred dollars, running five years, in order to raise 
money for current expenses. This note was negotiated witli Hon. John 
Moore, of Saginaw, and of the amount of seven hundred thirty-fi\e dollars 
was paid to Cutler & \\'alker as purchase money in full for the grounds, being 
the principal charges and interest to date. 

"The balance of five hundred sixty-five dollars was turned over to the 
treasurer, I presume, but as it did not pass through my office as it should ha\ e 
done. I have no official record of it, sa\e that I placed the deed on record. 

"The following orders, passed as correctly as possible. ha\e been drawn 
on the treasurer : 

For lumber and material $589.82 

For fair, including premiums 302.75 

For contingent expenses, including purchasing of 

grounds 788.66 

Total $1,621.23 

"Respectfully submitted, 

"James W. Long, 

"Secretary." 
The treasurer then submitted the following re]jort : 

"John T. Landon. President. Sir — On September 17th, 1881, I assumed 
the duties of treasurer of the society. There was a balance of fortv-eight 
cents due from the late treasurer, which I have received. I have receix'ed the 
following amounts : 

From sale of membership certificates $ 66.00 

From sale of tickets at fair 256.75 

From J. W. Long, secretary 45 00 

From note by Hon. John Moore i .300.00 

From .-\lexander Brodie, county treasurer 369. 17 

To which add balance on hand .48 

Total receipts $2,037.40 

Disbursements on orders $1,599-33 

Balance on hand $ 438.07 

"Respectfully submitted, 
"^^'ILI.I.AM E. Harris. Treasurer. 
"James \\'. Long, Secretary." 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 305 

At Mt. I'leasant. on April 15. iS8_'. tlie executive committee met jjui- 
suant to a call by the president, with all of the members present. .\t this 
meeting- it was decided to hold the next connty fair on the 13th, 14th and 
15th of Se])tember, i88j. Also pro\isions were made for fencing the grounds. 

The board met again on July 13, i8S_', and made contract with Taggart 
& Bartlett for the building of a hall, tu he twenty-six by sixty-six feet, at a 
cost of one himdred twenty dollars. 

On September _>. i88j. the association entered into a contract with the 
Drixing Park .Vssociation by which they leased to said association the grounds 
for a term of ten years, the association to make a suitable half-mile track and 
providing as to the relative conditions on which each should enjoy the grounds. 

.\ very good half-mile track was constructed and maintained for several 
years. 

The annual fairs were kept up for a numl)er of years and generally with 
a good deal of interest and very well attended and supported. But it finally 
proved that the location and the conditions of the lands were such that interest 
.seemed to fall of? and the attendance declined so that in the end the attendance 
was not sufficient to warrant its continuance and it was finally discontinued. 

.Another incident that perhaps had some force was that it was discovered 
that underlying a portion of the grounds there was a strata of bromide which 
was finally tested by the Dow Chemical Company of Midland Cit\'. Michigan, 
and the north portion of the grounds were finally sold to that company and 
they put down several wells and have been operating a plant for se\eral years 
and with profit to them. 

The Driving Association also ceased to be an acti\c and paving invest- 
ment and has become of little if any value. 

The south half of the grounds are still owned by the society. Init they 
ha\e been granted ])ermission In' the circuit court of the county to sell the 
same whenever they can obtain a satisfactory price for the same, and the 
society is now trying to negotiate with the city of Mt. Pleasant for certain 
privileges on the ]3ark grounds for jjlace and conveniences for the holding of 
agricultural fairs. The city has sufficient grounds that they could set apart 
for that use if it was thought best and the location would then l>e an ideal one, 
being w ithin the corporate limits of the city and within a stone's throw from 
the center of the business portion of the city. 

Tlie matter of agriculture is of such prime importance that it seems there 
should be some way devised to the end that there might be agricultural, horti- 
cultural and kindred subjects exhibited each year to the end that tiie farmers 
could come together once a year and compare notes as well as samples of 
(20^ 



306 ISABELLA COUNTY^ MICHIGAN. 

grain and animals of all kinds, so that it, in connection with our annual gath- 
erings in the winter, might serve to encourage and strengthen the love and 
interest in the farmer's profession. 

The day is coming, and not far distant, when the ability of the farmer to 
supply the nourishment for the nation will be sorely taxed unless the soil can 
be made more productive and yield a larger supply of the necessaries of life 
for our people. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



COUNTY POOK KAR.M. 



A county poor farm seems to be a public necessity. It is saiil. and with 
mucli truth, that "The poor you have witli you always;" so that among the 
first of the important things of a new county was to provide for the jjoor. .\t 
the session of the hoard of supervisors in October, i860, the board, consisting 
at that time of William R. Robbins, of Coe township. X. C. Payne, of Chip- 
pewa, and C. H. Rodd, Isabella, with Robbins as chairman and I. E. Arnold as 
C()unt\- clerk. (3n motion of Supervisor Payne. Albert G. I'erris, of Isabella, 
James Muwser. of Chipjjewa. and Cyrenus Kinter. of Coe, were appointed as 
county superintendents of the poor for Isabella county. 

At the same session the board of su]ier\-isc)rs set apart a tund ot unc Inui- 
dred ninetv dollars for the support of the poor. The superintendents entered 
upon their duties and disbursed the funds as the necessity occm-red. The first 
vear thev spent ninety-one dollars and twenty-five cents and in i86j the sum 
of twii hundred sixty-one dollars and thirteen cents, and in the next year the 
sum of two hundred sixty-five dollars and sixty-two cents. This method con- 
tinued until the October session of the board of supervisors. 1864. when the 
following resolution was passed : 

"On motion of Stephen lluniphrcy, a majority of the board \i)led to 
purchase a farm for the use of the county i)0(M-. The vote stood, yeas, Stephen 
Humphrey, F. J. \\'illiams. W. H. Nelson, William Tiffany and A. G. Ferris, 
and navs. James W'ilsey. At the same session a resolution was passed to raise 
the sum of three thousand dollars to i)urcha.se and improve the farm and Fer- 
ris, Humphrey and Tiffany were appointed a committee to purchase a farm." 

On January 2, 1865, the committee reported the following: "^'our com- 
mittee visited and inspected the farms of the following named persons; the 
sums set opposite is the i)rice asked for said farms at the time of inspection: 
William F. Payne, wheat on the ground and farming tonls included. $3,000; 
M. Bradley and J. h'outch. $2,100; H. T. Sherman, wheat on the ground and 
farming utensils included, $3,000. 

"Your committee did not make a selection of either, but left that open 
for vour action. Signed. .\ d. l-'erris and Ste]>hen Humiihrey. Committee." 



308 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Januan- lo, 1865, the offer of William F. Payne of his farm for a poor 
farm was unanimously adopted and on the same day a resolution ordering the 
chairman and clerk of the board to draw orders on the treasurer of the county 
for three thousand dollars and deliver the same to William F. Payne on the 
delivery of a good and sufficient deed of the farm and the delivery of the pos- 
session thereof. 

On October 12, 1865, the board of supervisors authorized the superintend- 
ents of the poor to engage a suitable person to care for the poor farm. 

The farm consisted of one hundred sixty acres of land, with fair ])uildings 
for the time, as it was only ten years after the first settler came to the county. 
About four years ago the county purchased forty acres of land adjoining at 
one thousand eight hundred dollars. The farm has been run ever since and 
has been a good paying investment to the county, and has served a noble pur- 
pose in pro\'iding a good home, with nourishing food and care and medical 
attendance when sick to those so conditioned that they are unable to care for 
themsehes. 

The farm has increased in value and is now worth about twenty thousand 
dollars. The a\erage number of inmates to be cared for last year was twenty- 
two. It cost last year to run the farm and care for the inmates as reported liy 
the superintendent of the poor the sum of $1 1,461.98. 

Paid out for Physicians and Medical Services $759.58 

For Permanent Paupers 498.91 

For Postage and Telephone 24.66 

For Transportation 59-4- 

Hospital Expenses i39-30 



Total $1,480.8: 



/ 



They further report that they turned into the county from the farm 
$1,491.61 and had a balance on hand on October 11. 1910, of $238.88. 

The county farm expenses were as follows: Salary of keeper, $700; hand 
labor, $385.95: help in the county house, $145.50: food, $616.06: clothing, 
$263.30: drugs and medicine, $62.20; burial expenses, $51; coal and wood, 
$183.70; turpentine, $7.75; insurance, $27.15; telephone, $33.66; newspapers. 
$4; farm tools and repairs, $159.48; grain and seeds, $54.11 ; stock, $24; phos- 
phates, $179.93; ditch tax, $60.06; transportation, $87.82; fruit trees, $17; 
threshing and bailing hay, $64.34: binder twine, $13.04; fencing, $75; build- 
ing bam and painting, $1,392.66; putting bath and closets, $200: tile for farm 
and laying, $242.69 : total, $5,050.89. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 3O9 

Beside the expenses at tlie poor farm, there was expended in temporary 
relief b_v the supervisors of their townships the following anionnts : 



Township. Food. 

Coe $97.62 

Chippewa . 180.61 

Denver 300.61 

Wise 150.63 

Lincoln 15.43 

Union 106.47 

Isabella 82.76 

Vernon 78.64 

Fremont 56.10 

Deerfeld _. 86.46 

Nottawa — 242.04 

Gilmore — 138.62 

Holland 66.62 

Broonifield 16.13 

Sherman _. 95.98 

Coldwater _ 162.33 

1st Ward .. 170.17 

2d Ward — . 232.25 

3d Ward — 246.47 









• 


Other 






Clothing. 


Fuel. 


Nurse. 


Burial. E: 


xpenses. 


Supervisor 


.Total. 


?19.30 





$37.00 








$9.00 


$162.92 


36.49 


11.25 


42.00 





$7.00 


19.50 


313.12 


31.00 





55.70 


$64.00 





19.50 


470.81 


14.52 








130.00 





3.00 


298.61 


4.00 














12.00 


31.43 


24.35 


16.00 











14.00 


160.S2 


22.06 








57.00 





5.25 


167.07 

















16.95 


95.59 


21.88 


10.50 


77.70 








3.00 


169.SS 


34.67 





21.00 


20.00 





18.00 


180.13 


32.61 


11.75 


16.14 


61.00 





4.05 


366.59 


31.19 


4.25 


110.00 





9.38 


28.40 


321.84 


48.86 


14.12 


96.50 


31.50 





10.00 


267.75 








51.90 


„.. 





6.00 


74.03 


28.45 


3.25 


155.89 


20.00 





36.00 


338.57 


9.75 





55.15 





33.00 


7.50 


267.73 


12.00 


58.65 


37.50 


30.00 





13.50 


392.88 


55.50 


85.78 


9.30 


10.00 





5.00 


392.88 


44.45 


189.51 


40.75 


4.00 





41.50 


566.68 



$2,526.09 $486.14 $404.06 $807.28 $397.50 $49.40 $267.65 $4,940.12 

The present superintendents are Charles Cassady. J. .\. .Stnihle and l\. 
H. Gardner. The present \alne of the farm and impro\ements is about thirty 
thousand dollars. They have now about twenty-six inmates to care for. The 
amount appropriated for the support of the poor for the year 191 1 is the sum 

of nine tiimisand dullars. 



CHAPTER XX. 



MILITARY RECORD. 



Today is Washington's birthday anniversary and our minds naturally 
recur to the events of that time and the Hfe of the Father of liis Countr)'. 
Who can dare to dixine wliat this country and nation might or would have 
l)een had it not been for that great man, and his leadershi]) in the tremendous 
events that followed during his active life. He helped to carve nut and preser\'e, 
all things considered, the greatest nation on earth. 

Isabella count}' can not boast oi any great e\'ents in the Ci\il war for 
which she can take credit, but she can claim that according to her population at 
that time she gave more men in proportion to her population than any other 
county in the state, if not in the nation. Her total population in uSfio was but 
one thousand four hundred forty-five, dix'ided about equally Ijetween whites 
and Indians. The government took from us about sixty-seven Indians who 
enlisted in the various departments of the army, many of them going into the 
service as sharpshooters. Of the wliites, the record shows that fifty-three 
enlisted into the army untler the enr(.)llment system, and that si.\ re-enlisted in 
the field, and that the product of the draft was twenty-six, besides one drafted 
man commuted. There were of the one-year men forty, and of the three- 
year men forty-six. The total credit under the enrollment system was eighty- 
six and those enlisting liefore September 19, 1863, were fiftv-one. making a 
total of one hundred thirty-seven. 

The number enrolled for draft September 10, 1862, between the ages of 
eighteen and forty-fi\-e, was two hundred seventy-one. Another enrollment w-as 
made in the summer of 1864, divided into two classes; for the first class there 
were one hundred fift)--three. and in the second class, si.xty-one. The order 
was then made to draft one-fifth of the first class so enrolled. In June. 1864, 
the draft took place. 

The credits then stood for Isabella, the number enlisted prior to January, 
1864, as si.xty-one and from January to October 31, 1864, fifty-five, with three 
more that were credited as having enlisted prior to January i, 1864, making 
a total of one hundred nineteen. The enrollment for draft stood, December 31. 
1864, as one hundred twenty-three and the quota under the call of December 
19, 1864, was fifteen for Isabella county. 



ISABKM.A COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 3 II 

There has always i)een in the county a sentiment ami helief that the 
county of Isahelia did not get her proper credits for all the men tiiat enlisteil 
and entered the army, hut tliat (luite a numher were xirtualh' sulci or ^i\en to 
other counties anil that they recei\e(l the credit that isahelia should have heen 
enitled to. Let he as it may. there were times during the continuance of the 
Ci\'ii war that there was scarcely an able-bodied man left in the county. Who 
can estimate or measure the pri\-ations that the families of the soldier under- 
went while the heatl of the family was away ti^htinj^ for the perpetuity of the 
government? Could the reader of this article ha\e been here and seen the 
various families of the soldier who had gone to the front, living in the woods 
in a little log hut, with barely the absolute necessities of life, digging her fire- 
wood from under the snows in the winter and caring for the cow in the stable 
or hunting the cow in the summer in a pasture as wast as the boundario oi' 
the township or ctninty, trudging through the woods and listening for the 
sound of the bell jingling from the neck of the almost entire support of herself 
and little ones. Or while she was sitting in the corner of her cabin, waiting 
and watching for the mail carrier, who should liriug her a letter from her 
husband, with the jHttance that L'ncle Sam should have given him ftjr his 
services in defense of his country; or to watch the tears trickling down her 
cheeks when the carrier goes by, leaving her neither money nor tidings of the 
dear (_)ne at the front. In our pros|)erity lodax'. 1 fear we think too lightlv of 
the days long gone by when the boys were at the front and the families de- 
pendent upon them were left behind to get along as best the\' might. .Manv of 
our i)est and most able-liodied men went to the front, and manv failed to re- 
turn ; they remained a sacrifice to the cause of freedom. 

This day the remnant left of those brave boys of the si.xties are now 
holding a meeting in commemoration of the birthday of the Father of our 
Ci>imtry. The post of Mt. Pleasant has invited the Shepherd post, with the 
Relief Corps, to meet with them and to be their guests, to sup with them and 
enjoy such hospitality as they ha\e, and none can have better. They are 
enjoying the music, the speeches and the children's presentations. Yet every 
meeting finds their ranks thinner than they were at the last one. and some 
sadder faces on account of the absence of one dear to them who has ceased 
to answer the roll call. 

The peo])le at home tried to make the burden a little less to those who 
went to the front, or at least some of them. The board of supervisors. I'ebru- 
ary 8. 1864. passed a resolution granting a bounty of two hundred dollars to 
each one who enlisted and was credited or who was drafted and credited and 
acce])ted. One hundred dollars was to be paid in one year and the other one 
hundred dollars to be paiil in twt) years. 



312 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

A REMARKABLE RECORD. 

It may be a little irregular, but I think that I shall be pardoned for in- 
troducing this bit of history for the benefit of the younger generations who 
know l)ut little if anything about war, and because the soldier is a citizen of 
Isabella county. He was a member of the One Hundred and h''ift}"-first Regi- 
ment, Xew York State Volunteers, First Brigade, Third Division, Sixth 
Corps. Army of the Potomac, and these are the battles he was engaged in : 
Pirandy Station, Virginia, June 9, 1863; ^^'apping Heights. Virginia, July 20, 
1863; ^McLean's Ford, Virginia. October 5, 1863; Catlet's Station. Virginia. 
October 15. 1863; Kelly's Ford, Virginia, November 7, 1863: ]\Iine Run. 
\'irginia, November 26, 1863; Locust Grove. Virginia. November 2/, 1863; 
Wilderness, Virginia, May 5. 6, 7, 1864; Spottsylvania Court House. Virginia. 
Maq 8-9, 1864; Spottsyhania, and Laurel Hill, Virginia. May 10 and 21, in- 
clusive, 1864; North Anna, Virginia, ]\Iay 22 and 26, inclusive, 1864; Tolo- 
potomy, \'irginia. May 27 and 30, inclusi\e, 1864: Hanover Court House, 
Virginia, May 31, 1864; Cold Harbor, Virginia, June i. 2, 3, 1864: before 
Petersburg, Virginia, June 17 and July 5, inclusive, 1864: W'eldon Railroad, 
Virginia, June 21, 22, 23, 1864; Monocacy, Maryland, July 9, 1864; Snickers 
Gap, West Virginia, August 11, 1864; Berryville, West Virginia, August 10, 
1864; Winchester, West Virginia, August 11, 1864; Middletown, West Vir- 
ginia, August 12, 1864; Strausburg, West Virginia, August 13, 1864: Charles- 
town, West Virginia, August 21, 1864; Leetown, West Virginia, August 28-29, 
1864; Smithfield or Berryville, West Virginia, September 3, 1864; Opequon 
Creek. West Virginia, September 19, 1864; Fisher Hill, West Virginia, Sep- 
tember 22. 1864; Mount Jackson, West Virginia, September 24. 1864; 
Strausburg, West Virginia, October 14, 1864: Cedar Creek or Sheridan's 
Ride, West Virginia, October 18. 1864; Appomattox, Virginia, April 9, 
1865 ; Sailor's Creek, Virginia. April 6, 1865 ; Petersburg Works. X'irginia. 
March 25. 1865, and fall of Petersburg, Virginia, April 2, 1865. This is a 
part of the war record of William H. Salsbury, of Deerfield township, Isabella 
county. And a most remarkable record it is. 

WAR MEETINGS. 

During 1863-4, after many had enlisted and the call was made for more 
troops, the people became very much exercised, as it began to look as if a 
draft was sure to follow. The government was sending out recruiting officers 
and one came to Isabella county to see what could be done here. He was 



ISABELLA COL'NTY, MICHIGAX. 3I3 

escorted thioiij^li the settlements by S. W'oodwortti. wlio enlisted wiili others 
and went to the froyt. They held war meetings, where tiie men were per- 
suaded to join tlie army of the United States. The first war meeting was held 
at the house of Azariah Dunham, in the township of Lincoln, he having the 
most commodious one of the settlement, and, although it had neither door or 
window in it, answered the purpose and the meeting was the means of several 
enlisting. The meeting had Ijeen well ad\ertised, as tlie\' had distributed notices 
and had nailetl them to the trees along the trail through the timber, so that a 
good crowd was secured. Chairs in those days were .scarce, so that logs were 
sawe<l off into blocks and the\' were placed on end around the inside nf tlie 
building, and sap troughs, with a few loose boards ])laced u])i)n them, were 
also in use for seats. For lights, there were a cou])le of tallow dips sputter- 
ing on a rough pine table, so that, all in all. we were all well accommodated. 
Old patriotic songs were sung, speeches made and papers read to show how- 
things were .going at the front and to what straits the country was put to on 
account of the treason of tb.e South. The songs were sung with a zest, the 
deep bass, the tenor and the masculine soprano, with the inspiration of Old 
John Brown in their hearts, made the woods ring with the old patriotic songs, 
and when any one stepped forward and signed the roll there came u]) such a 
shout as can only be heard connected with patriotism. These meetings were 
kept up at different ])laces in tlie cnunty. at Salt !<i\-er and in the tnwnshi]) 
of Chipiiewa, until nearly e\ery able-bodied man hatl signed for the army. 

After a few days orders came to go to the front and the sad leave-taking 
was had. The oxen were hitched to the old double wagon, the family placed 
thereon and a start was made to the Indian Mills, where the enlisted were to 
meet and from there were to go down the Chippewa river on a raft provided 
for their journey. The roads were trails through the woods across the 
swamps and over the corduroy, and it recalls to memory the parody on Poe's 
"Raven" : 

'"Once upon a spring time dreary. 

While we i-lodded, weak and weary. 

Over many a bog and nniddy Imle. 

Of the treacherous roads of yore. 

While we bumped and s])lashed and floundered 

Through the swamps that we encountereil. 

Oft we stopped awhile and jjondered 

And sometimes I fear we swore." — K. L. W. 



314 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

After an all-day's journe}' over these delectable roads, we arrived at our 
destination and jnit up for the night. In the morning all \\ as made ready for 
the soldiers' departure. The raft that had been made to float them down the 
river was loaded with the luggage, blankets, rations and bedding. When at 
last all was ready, the bank of the ri\er was lined with the families and friends 
of those departing, the last kiss was given, the last goodby was said and the 
raft was made loose, swung out into the current of the stream and they were 
afloat. Then it was that the wife and family realized what war meant and 
sobs could be heard, and tears were shed as they turned away from the shore 
of the river and once more were afloat on the shore of time, little knowing 
what the tempest of war would bring to them. In that company were Samuel 
Woodworth, Daniel McLarn, .\lonzo Holland, Joseph Atkins, with probably 
some others. 

I.SABELLA ENLISTMENTS. 

Here is a partial list of those who went into the arnn- from Isabella: 
Joseph Miser, Azariah Dunham, A. J. Cioodsell. Samuel Loveland. H. S. Bou- 
ton, Samuel Woodworth. Ducky Doolittle, D. H. Xelson, Willard McQueen, 
Thomas Campbell, Daniel Brickley, C. B. Young, Henry Cannute, Calvin 
Bigelow, George Bellinger, Monroe Kinter, Benjamin Cahoon, H. O. Bigelow, 
Martin Cop (died in Anderson\ille prison), Orin Johnson, C. C. Foutch, 
David Foutch, William Cowden. Jacob Armstrong. F"rank Cushway, William 
Froggett, Daniel Robbinson, John Mouser. William McClintic, George Scott, 
Charles Hall, Hiram Ellsworth, Hart Ellsworth, .\delbert Martin, Paul Smith, 
Har\ey \\'ardwell, Steven Losey, Calvin Losey, Horace Bellinger, \\'arren 
Wing, George H. Stockham, Daniel Maclarn. Keit Landon, Lien Landon, 
Charles Dunham, Stephen ]\Iurthy, Xorthrop, Leonard Ives, Jacob Smith, 
James Hoag, Andrew J. Gould, Caswell, Lou Holland, Little, Jake Smith, R. 
Kyes. Charles Crippin, Xewton Merrill, Neal Beach, Richard Wonch, George 
Gruber, Andrew Childs. Da\i(l Black. Sanuiel Titus, Peter Hawle\", Charles 
Handy, Henry Kinter, Andrew Condon, Oscar Condon. 

woman's relief corps. 

In connection with every well regulated Grand .\rmy of the Republic 
post there is a Woman's Relief Corps. The Wa-lia-no Woman's Relief Corps 
No. 56 was organized September 11, 1885, by Emma Stark Hampton, deputy 
president, with fifteen charter members, as follows : Mrs. Ellen A. Hicks. Mrs. 
Sarah Churchill, Mrs. Maria Brown, Mrs. Minnie E. Woodworth, ^ilrs. Ella 



ISABELLA COrXTY. MICHIGAN. 3I5 

Bowen, Mrs. Adalinc Samleison, Mrs. Alice J. Conlogue, Mrs. Lydia A. 
Pfenlssteller. Mrs. Dora Whitney, Mrs. Cora J. Ralph. Mrs. Nora S. Love- 
land. Mrs. Hek-ii J. Watson, Mrs. Olive Simonds, .Mrs. Kate Harris, Mrs. 
Stella Jeffords. 

The first officers elected were : President, Mrs. Miien .\. I licks : senior vice- 
president. Mrs. Sarah Churchill; jiuii(jr vice-president, Mrs. Xora S. Love- 
land; secretary, Mrs. Kate Harris; treasurer. Mrs. Llla Pxnven ; cliaplain. 
Minnie Woodworth ; conductor, Mrs. Dora E. Whitney; guard, Mrs. Marie 
Broun. 

The corps has heen kept up ever since it first started and has been a .source 
of much good, especially to the old soldiers, and their families, as well as to 
tile public. There is never any great doings by the (irand Army post that 
they do not ha\'e some pron;inent part to perform, and especiallv when thev 
desire to iiave a good dinner or supper, then the ladies of the corps are very 
much in evidence. I-'or instance, at the last gathering of the post they invited 
the Salt River r)r Shepherd ]iost to be present and be guests of the Wa-ba-no 
post A sumptuous feast was set liefore them In" the Woman's l\elief Corps 
of Mt. Pleasant and they also furnished a good portion of the eiUertainment 
in the way of singing, marching, with the drill of the young .girls, dressed in 
appropriate dress, with tlieir flags unfurled to the breeze, which made a 
fine appearance and pleased the audience \ery much. 

The oflicers of lyii are as follows: President. Rebecca Cardner ; senior 
\ice-president, Dora E. Daggett; junior vice-jiresident. Mary \\'eller; secre- 
tary. Emily Toltu : treasurer, Ellen .\. Hicks; chaplain. Margaret Mull; con- 
ductor, Janette Johnson; assistant conductor, Mary Skidmore; guard, .-\da 
Coffin; assistant guard, Lucinda Dush ; patriotic instructor. Sarah Hoag; 
press correspondent. P'lla Fonch; nuisician. Lydia Brownstetter ; color 
bearer Xo. i. Jennie P>ro\\nstetter ; color bearer Xo. _'. Rebecca Wells; color 
l)earer .\o. 3, .\nna E. Lea; color bearer Xo. 4. Malissa Stevenson. The 
present number belonging to the corps is 45. The objects of these auxiliary 
organizations are grand and noble. They are to specially aid and assist the 
Grand .\rmy of the Rei)ublic and perpetuate the memory of their heroic dead; 
to assist such L'nion veterans as need our help and protection, and to extend 
needful aid to their widows and orphan.s; to find them homes and employ- 
ment, and assure them of sympathy and friends; to cherish and emulate the 
deeds of our army nurses and of all loyal women uhn ren<lercd loving service 
to our country in her hour of peril ; to maintain true allegiance to the United 
States of .\nierica; to inculcate lessons of patriotism and love of country 
auK^ng our children and in the communities in which we live; and encourage 
the spread of universal liberty and equal rights to all. 



3l6 ISABELLA COL'NTY, MICHIGAN. 

WA-BA-NO POST, G. A. R. 

Wa-ba-no Post No. 250, Grand Army of the Republic, was organized at 
Mt. Pleasant on tiie 24th day of April, 1884, with tliirty-seven charter mem- 
bers as follows: William T. Whitney (since dead), John A. Harris. Warner 
Churchill. George W'. Whitney, Archie McSwain, Ira Watson, Henry Walsh, 
Samuel Woodworth (since deceased), L. C. Griffith, Moses Brown (since de- 
ceased), John Richmond (now deceased), George Priest, George W. Myers 
(since deceased), Fred Pferdsteller, George Francisco, Frank W. Ralph, 
George L. Granger, John Block, Samuel Hague, Charles T. Whitney (since 
deceased), Samuel W. Morrison, Charles Jeffords. James- \\'. Long (since de- 
ceased), William H. Richmond (now deceased), A. A. Loxeland. John J. 
Kitchen (now deceased), John J. Bastella, H. O. Wheelan (lately deceased), 
William H. Carpenter, J. J. Stoner. M. Hungerford, J. Brownstetter. Charles 
Bennett, J. N. Drake, Daniel Covert ('Indian). John Neebes. and John Mull, 
since deceased Since the organization was effected there have a numljer 
joined them, until now the\' number aljout sixty members. Thev iia\e lost 
quite a number by death and removal, especially within the last few years. As 
we look over the post as they are gathered, we plainly discover that the time 
of most of them is c|uite limited, when they too will answer the last roll call 
on earth and take their departure for the unknown. 

The officers of the post for the year 1911 are as follows: Commander, 
Samuel W. Morrison ; senior vice-commander, Warner Churchill ; junior vice- 
commander, J. Manchester ; adjutant, John A. Harris ; patriotic instructor, 
H. Edward Deuel; chaplain, Lafayette Hall; surgeon, James Hoag; quarter- 
master, Charles Jeffords ; officer of the day, Sylvester Johnson ; officer of the 
guard, Joseph Brownstetter, quartermaster sergeant, James Slater; sergeant 
major, Mr. Crosby. 

Too much can not be said in behalf of tlie members of the post. They 
were men that enlisted becruse the government needed their assistance and 
their reason was not of the mercenary kind, as the pittance of pay would be 
of no influence for them to leave home and friends for the vicissitudes and 
dangers of war and go to the front and there take their place in fighting ranks, 
with the positive knowledge that many of them would ne\er return to their 
home and friends. 

RALPH ELY POST NO. 1 5O, G. A. R. 

This post was organized June 8, 1883. and the following charter members 
were mustered in by comrades of Post No. loi, of Ithaca, Michigan: George 



ISABF.LLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 3I7 

W. Fonts. Sol H. Fordyce, P. Cliilds, K. W'ellniaii. J. B. Struble. B. A. 
Cohoon, F. F. Mil)l)ar(l, J. M. Kinter. John H. Hillikee. Sidney Clark. Austin 
Campbell. W. H. Kinter. George Gruber. Monroe Loomis. Henry Fuller, 
Ransom Kyes. C. W. Smitb. The past commanders are Georsje W. iMnits. 
J. B. Struble, R. Wellman, A. C. Vredenburg. J. P.. Xorthrop. 'I'liomas Pickett 
and F. E. Hibbard. 

The roster of this post numbered, in 1897. seventy-seven members. 
Quite a number have since been dropped or ha\e died. Quite a number of 
the members of that time were enlisted or drafted and joined Michigan regi- 
ments; among these are Henry Austin, pri\ate Company D, Fighth Michigan 
Infantry; Calvin Bigelow. private Company B, Twenty-third Michigan In- 
fantry; John Bronk, private Company E, Twenty-third Michigan Infantry; 
Daniel Brickley, private Company F, Twelftli Michigan Infantry; IJ. A. Co- 
hoon, sergeant Company K. Eightii Michigan Infantry; A. J. Condon. pri\ate 
Company D. Eighth Michigan Infantry; Philander Childs. private Company 
C. Fighth Michigan Infantry; Austin Campbell, private Com])any C. Eighth 
Michigan Infantry; Henry Chadwick. private Company E, Eighth Michigan 
Infantry; Alonzo Converse, private Company G, Fifth Michigan Infantry; 
Edward Case, private Company I, Ninth Michigan Infantry; Henry b'uller, 
private Company H, Twenty-sixth Michigan Infantry; Jason Hunt, private 
Company G, First Michigan Artillery; W. 11. Harrison. i)rivate Company D. 
Second Michigan Infantry; W'illiaiu Joslin. ])ri\ate Companv K. Eighth Mich- 
igan Infantry; W. H. Kinter, private Company F, Fifth Michigan Infantry; 
J. M. Kinter, private Company C, Eighth Michigan Cavalry: Monroe Loomis, 
private Company H, Eighth Michigan Infantry; Theo Morton, private Com- 
pany A, First Michigan Engineering and Mining Corps; F. M. McClintic, priv- 
ate Company A, Twenty-eighth Michigan Infantry ; Joseph Myers, Company I, 
Twenty-third Michigan Infantry; Levi Nichols, corporal Company G, Thirtieth 
Michigan Infantry; A. C. \'redenburg, private Company G, Twenty-ninth 
Michigan Infantry; C. A. \'redenburg, private Company E. Eighth Michigan 
Infantry; Jeremiah \'ining. pri\ate Company I. Twenty- fourth Michigan In- 
fantry; James \'ining. private Company I. Xintii .Michigan Infantry: Richard 
W'onch, private Company I. Twenty-third Michigan Infantry; Eugene White, 
private Company C. Eighth Michigan Infantry; Solomon Wolf, private Com- 
pany C. Eighth Michigan Infantry. 

The present officers of this post are: Commander. J. B. Struble; senior 
vice-commander. William Joslyn ; junior \ice-commander. Joseph Moore; 
adjutant. N. Willoughby ; ciuartermaster, B. A. Cohoon; officer of the day, 
William Swix ; chaplain. Henry Barret; officer of guard, Sherman Allen; 



o 



l8 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



quartermaster sergeant, R. Wellman ; sergeant major, G. W. Fonts ; color 
bearer, S. H. Fordyce. 

This is a good strong post and has in it a large number of patriotic citi- 
zens, men holding some of the best and most responsible places in the com- 
munity. When you see them together you will notice that they are all on the 
shady side of life and that they can not stay much longer to enjoy the honors 
which is their due for the gallant work they did in the defense of their country. 
It will not now be long before the most of them will have answered the last 
roll call and will be where the tumult and strife of battle will he no longer 
heard. May the United States government and all that are now living and 
enjoying the freedom they fought for, see to it that not one of them shall suffer 
for the necessaries of life pnd the care they merit when the final call shall 
come. 

Connected with this post is the usual \\'oman's Relief Corps. This was 
organized August 7, 1890, and the charter members were Myra E. Wellman, 
Catherine Shepherd, Harriett Bigelow, Addie Picket, Addie Hance, Emma 
McClintic, Mary E. Fonts, Mary O. Struble, Dora Cohoon. Mary Xorthrop, 
Carrie Struble, Luda V. Moore. 

The names of this list is a sure guarantee that the post has a grand 
auxiliary body, one that will perform all that is found by them necessary to 
be done for the relief and care of the needy or distressed. 



CHArTER XXI. 



NECROLOGICAL RECORD. 



This part of a liistorv has some good features and creates some sad re- 
flections; however, it seems to be necessary tliat tliose conning the book should 
lia\e the privilege of knowing, as far as c<)n\cnient, tlie term of life meted out 
to those who came to the county in an early day. 

An examination of the record of deaths reveals to us that we are all born 
to die and raises an interesting question as to who has gone or who will go 
first. There were but few settlers in the llfties. as they did not commence 
until in the fall of 1854 to come at all and then only a verj- few families moved 
into the woods until some one could come Iiefore and prepare an abode of some 
kind to shelter the family when they should arrive. And then there was this 
fact, that they were generally a sturdy, rugged class of people, for it meant 
hard work, and a good deal of it, to fit this county for the habitation of man. 

The records are only available back to June, 1867, when it is recorded 
that Anna Shei)herd died on the i8th thereof, she being an inhabitant of Coe 
township, and the next one recorded was that of 'i'homas E. Harbison, also 
of Coe, who died January 8, 1871. Rev. George Bradley, a missionary 
among the Indians, who came about 1857, was ajjpointed as Indian agent and 
fell on the street of Xew York while there for tlie ])ur])ose of getting his in- 
structions in regard to his official duties: liis remains were lirought hack to 
Mt. Pleasant for burial, as his family were ;dl here. His death occurred on 
the 15th day of April, 1871. 

Xelson Mosher. one of the most prominent of the early settlers, coming 
to the county about 1857 and putting a small stock of goods at the center and 
.staying there for a short time, then removing to the county seat, and who was 
elected as prosecuting attorney at the first county election and was afterward 
electe<l to several of the important offices of the county, was finally overtaken 
by the grim destroyer on April 28, 1872. John Irons (Indian), who with 
his family came to Isabella in 1856 and located just west of the Indian school 
lands, died on May 14, 188,7. Jane Baw-go-zhick was another of the natives 
who came about the same time and located on her selection and who li\ed 
here until July 23, 1874. when she too went to the liappy hunting ground at 
the good old age of one hundred and five. 



320 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

John and Mary Wab-way also located as Chippewas on the Isabella reser- 
vation and lived together as ether Indians live until the good spirit called them 
and then Mary, being ninety . consented to go on the loth day of June, 1876, 
and John, after grieving for a time and finally realizing that he could no longer 
chase the deer, being ninety-five, concluded that he would follow his good wife 
and so laid by his cares in this world on the 24th day of December, 1876. 

John M. Hursh was one of the very early pioneers — in fact, the verv 
first to bring his family into this part of the county, having located on section 
22, the land where the normal school is now located, in 1855, on Februarv 
25th. He remained here for a number of years, was postmaster of the New 
Albany postofBce, the first one in this part of the county, was justice of the 
peace and on the school board and in fact one of the first in these parts. He 
afterward moved to Loomis, this county, and there died on the 25th of Xo\em- 
ber, 1877, at the age of sixty-four. 

Chief Not-to-way, after whom the township of Xottaway was named, was 
another of the old timers who came with the tribe and who lived until August 
II, 1881. when he too hung up his bow antl arrows and submitted to the 
inevitable. 

Everybody used to know in an early day old Father Sheldon, the Meth- 
odist Episcopal preacher. He was one of the liest and most humanitarian 
gentlemen we ever met. He was good and only good. He came here in the 
fifties and remained in the field until Novemlier y, 1882, when he too passed to 
the unknown realm from whence none return. 

George W. Miller came to Salt River in the fifties and after a time he 
built a mill and later laid out the plat of Salt River. He was a progressive 
gentleman and after getting his mill pretty well along sold it to Messrs. Stahl- 
man and Young and then continued on his farm until December 9, 1886, when 
he passed away, at the age of seventy. 

William Adams, of Coe township, came in the fifties and located near 
Shepherd on a piece of land, the same being now the farm of his son, Oliver 
Adams. He lived to the good old age of eighty and died on the 3d day of 
March, 1899. 

John Hinman was another of the Indians who came up under the treaty 
of 1855 and located on the reservation. He used to be the boss poler of canoes 
on the raging Chippewa, and was the man who brought much of the freight 
from Saginaw and Midland to Isabella City and is said to be the party who 
brought the Babbett piano up the river on tw'o canoes lashed together. He 
remained here most of the time and finally died September 30, 1901, at the 
advanced age of eighty. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 321 

William B. Bowen has the credit of driving the first horse team into tlie 
county ahout the first of Xoveml)er. 1854: he came as tar as Salt river witii 
two or three others. He settled upon his land, uliicli lie had Ijouglit under the 
graduation act at fifty cents per acre and was coming to make a home. He 
continued to live in the ct)unty until his dcatii. w liich occurred .Marcli 29. 
i8qj. at the ripe old age of seventy-six. 

Jolm Q. A. Johnson was a settler in the township of Coe, coming here 
in June. 1855, and located on section 21 of that townsiiip. He was an all- 
round man and served in tl'e county as preacher, justice of tiie ])eace, sheriff 
and judge of prohate and finally died in the townshi]) of Union, where he had 
settled .some years hefore on the ijlh day of January, 1893, at the age of 
si.xty-five. 

Ransom Kyes came to Isabella county in .\pril. 1855. and bought two 
hundred acres of land in Coe, where lie resided until he died in 1893, on 
Decemlicr 9th. He held the office of sheriff, lieing elected in 1866 and was re- 
elected in 1868, thus Iiolding the office for four years. 

George Atkins was of English descent and came to Isabella in April, 
1855, locating on section 6 in the township of Coe, where he made a farm and 
lived with his family for many years, but in his ad\-anced age he came to Mt. 
Pleasant and there resided until the time (if his death, which occurred June 
14, 1905, at the advanced age of eighty-five. 

William .Atkins, the son of George, came to the county with his father 
and remainefl on the farm and as the father and mother ad\anced in age he 
conducted the work until llicy had ac(|uircd a comjietency. He married and 
brought up a family and was prospering up to the time of his deatli. which 
occurred on Xovember 1 1, 1903, at the age of fifty-three years. 

James Wilsey was one of the leading settlers. He came here in October, 
1854, being one of the first in, the gmuiid in the county. He settled on a farm 
of one hundred sixty acres, which he took up under the graduation act. He 
was the first judge of probate after the county was organized and served two 
terms : supervisor of Coe township two terms and held other town offices. 
He cleared about forty acres of his land and died at the age of seventy-one. 
on the 5th day of ^lay, 1882. 

Rev. Charles Taylor crune to Isabella in February, 1856, and settled on 
two hundred and forty acres of land he bought, built a log house which was 
occupied for several years bv him and his family. He was a licensed Metho- 
dist Epi.scopal ])reacher and a very fine man. He li\ed to enjoy the fruits of 
his hard work and early deprivations. He it was who preached the first ser- 
mon ever preached in the county, and he it was who made a trough out of a 



322 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN: 

black asli log, fixed an iron wedge into the end of a hand spike and pummeled 
his corn into meal, which, when mixed into hoe cakes and baked in the oven, 
were called black ash Johnny cakes. He lived to see better days and to a ripe 
old age and died on the ist day of September, 1897, at the age of sixty-eight 

Perry H. Estee came to Isabella and settled in 1855 on section 18 in 
Coe. He came on foot through the woods and landed on his land on the 4th 
of July, 1855, and chopped the first tree toward a clearing. Mr. Estee first 
built a bark shanty twelve feet square, chopped ten acres of timber and then 
put up a log house which served him and his family for a number of years. 
He was one of the foremost men of his town and held many of the offices of 
the township ; was supervisor when they were obliged to go on foot through 
the woods to Midland to attend the meetings of the board of supervisors. He 
was a member of the constitutional convention of 1867 and was elected as 
judge of probate in i860 and held other offices. He never mortgaged or in 
any way encumbered his lands and li\ed upon the farm up to the time of his 
death, which occurred on the 31st day of March, 1907. at the ripe old age of 
eighty-two. 

L. D. Estee was a son of P. H. Estee and was about fi\"e years old when 
he moved with his father to Isabella county. He lived here ever afterward, 
at first with his father and then for himself. Later he was engaged in busi- 
ness at Shepherd, where he died on October 6, 1907, being then fifty-seven 
years old. 

Richard Hoy was another of the away-back settlers, coming to Isabella 
in December, 1855, ^^^ taking up one hundred twenty acres of land on section 
16 in Coe township. He was born in Ireland and when but an infant came 
with his parents to America He was a public-spirited man and was elected 
as the first county treasurer of Isabella county. He li\-ed in the county until 
the time of his death, which occurred on the 17th day of 'Slay, 1909, at that 
time he had reached the advanced age of eighty-two years. 

John Eraser was for many, manj' years a prominent personage in the 
county. He came here in 1856. having purchased three hundred twenty acres 
of land in Chippewa township. He came by the way of Saginaw, there buying 
a team of horses and wagon to transport his family and goods to Isabella. He 
was obliged to hire three other teams to bring in the goods and was com- 
pelled to cut about fifty miles of original trail through the woods to get to 
his land. When he arrived in the township there were but five other families 
in the town, but as he had some means lieside his land he soon cleared off 
sufficient so that he might commence to raise more than sufficient for 
his own use. He was thriftv and a worker. He built the first frame barn in 



ISABELLA COL'.XTV, MICHIGAN. 323 

the county, lived upon his farm for a long time and then nio\e(l to Mt. Pleas- 
ant, where lie spent his declining years, dying on the 27th day uf Xovembcr. 
1907. at the ad\anced age of eighty-eight. 

Cornelius Bennett came to Isabella county in the year i<S63. in the month 
of May, fresh from the University Law School, ha\ing graduated in the law 
department in March, with the degree of Doctor of Laws. On arriving in 
Mt. Pleasant he took up the practice of the law. hut after a few years he 
seemed to gravitate toward politics and held several of the county offices, 
such as county clerk, register of deeds, justice of the peace and judge of 
probate. He was a genial, jovial, kind-hearted gentleman and enjoyed the 
friendship and esteem of a Lrge circle of friends. Me it was who builded the 
Bennett Hou.se in 1882-3 ^"<^1 ^^^o was a dealer in lands, making a specialty 
of dealing with the Indians, with whom he was especially adai)ted. He was 
public spirited and philanthropic. He was in an early day connectefl with the 
bank of Hicks. Bennett & C(im]iany. He died May 2, 1896, at the age of 
fiftv-si.x years. 

.Albert Fox came to the county just after the close of the Civil war, in 
which he was a soldier. He was a good scholar and soon became identified 
w ith tile schools of the county and was elected to the office of county school 
superintendent in 1866 and held the first teachers' institute of the county, 
which was held at Mt. Pleasant on December 27, 1867, at which they 
mustered a total of ten teachers. He also held-the office of pro.secuting attor- 
ney for the county and was the first worshijiful master of Walxm Lodge, 
Free and .Accepted Masons. He afterward l)ecame proprietor and editor of 
the Enterprise, a weekly newspaper then as now. Fox died at Mt. Pleasant 
in February. 1873, leaving a widow and one child. 

Langdon Bentley came to the county in 1855, in the spring of that year, 
coming by the way of Almn north to the Payne settlement, the place where 
now is located the county poor farm, and from there cut his way north to 
the north side of the Chippewa river and located on section 3 of the town- 
ship of Chippewa. He remained there for a time and then took up a home- 
stead, where the DePew farm is now located, and in the fall of 1864 he was 
elected county treasurer. In that capacity he served for two terms, at first 
keeping his office in the old wooden court house and when imt busy with the 
duties of the office (and at that time they were not very arduous) he was 
making boots and shoes, being a good shoemaker. Afterward he took to 
lumbering and looking pine lands, for which he was especially adapted. Hav- 
ing made something of a fortune at that, he sold out and iiiii\ed with his 
family to Monmouth. Oregon, where he died alxiut 1908. 



324 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Henry A. Dunton was one of the first men to start a store in Mt. Pleas- 
ant in 1864. He had a small stock of goods and only continued in the busi- 
ness for a short time and then sold to John Kinney. He then went out on 
his farm, where he died on January 22. 1882. 

Charles H. Rodd was in an early day a United States government inter- 
preter for the Indians. He was half French and half Indian and was the 
first sheriff elected in the county in i860, at the organization of the county. He 
was interpreter for the treaty of 1864 and was one of the persons selected by 
the white men to obtain a large tract of the Indian reservation at the close of 
that treaty, which signally failed. He continued to live on the reservation 
until his death, which occurred on November 3, 1867. 

William H. Nelson was one of the very first of the white men that came 
to Isabella City, where he and his family located about 1856 or "7. He built 
and conducted a hotel for many years at that place and also held the office 
of county clerk for a time and was elected as judge of probate and held that 
office for a time. He it was that cleared off the grounds where the first 
court house was built. He was a most affable, kind-hearted and social 
person and when he died, on October 31, 1870. he left a host of friends behind 
to regret if not mourn his passing away. 

Douglas H. Nelson was a son of William H. Nelson and came with his 
father to Isabella as a young man. After a time he went into partnership 
with F. C. Bah1)itt, then located at Isabella, and some time afterward was 
married to Nellie, the daughter of his partner. They resided here for some 
years, when Mrs. D. H. Nelson died on August 14, 1881, and afterward 
Nelson was married to the present Mrs. Nelson and they lived in Mt. Pleasant 
until on June 11. 1910. when Mr. Nelson died. 

Francis C. Babbitt was one of the noted persons of the early settlement 
of Isabella. He came from Cleveland, Ohio, about 1857. and located at 
Isabella Citv in the mercantile business with one John Eastman. They con- 
tinued fur a time, when Eastman went out of the firm and Baliljitt conducted 
it alone for a time and then D. H. Nelson liecame a partner. They continued 
for some time at the jMills and then moved to Mt. Pleasant, where he con- 
tinued in his business up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1875 or 
'6. Mrs. Babbitt continued to li\'e here for a time and then went to Cleveland. 
Mrs. Babbitt was \erv much thought of by the Indians and they used to call 
her \\'a-sash-com-mo-quay. "the woman who brings light.'" 

Wesley J. Corbus settled in Isabella with his family in 1863 and for a 
time lived on his farm in Lincoln township. He then came to ]\It. Pleasant 
and remained for a time. He was one of the verv first doctors to settle in the 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 3^5 

county. He was a genial gentleman and enjoyed the respect of all. He was 
here during one of the smallpox outbreaks and attended to a patient in Lin- 
coln initil he was taken down with the disease, when he called in Dr. Delos 
Braman and he attended the patient until he died, when the doctor was at- 
tacked with the disease in a light form. Doctor Corbus remained here for a 
number of years and then moved to the West. He died December 19, 1893, 
at the age of seventy-fi\c. His wife. Christina, followed him on Februarv 9, 
i9or), at the age of eighty. 

\\"illiani ^^^ Struble came to Isabella county in October. 1864. and settled 
upon a (juarter section of land in Chippewa and lived there for some time, 
clearing his land from the timber and putting it in state of cultivation. In 
1870 he was elected to the office of judge of probate. He died July 30, 1908, 
at the age of eighty- four years. 

In the year 1861 Albert A. Preston and his brother-in-law, Sanuiel 
Woodworth, came from A\'estern Xew York to Isabella count)- to locate lands 
for themselves. They secured one hundred si.xty acres apiece and then waited 
for the United States government to pass the homestead law that they 
might homestead the same, which they did in 1862. They continued to hve 
on their land, which was located in Lincoln township, until they finally secured 
their patents. In the winter or spring of 1864 William and Mary Preston 
and family moved here and settled in Mt. Pleasant. They lived here until 
November 10. i88t. when A\'illiam Preston died. He was followed by .Mljert 
Preston, who died on July 22. 1885, aged fifty-seven. His mother. Mary 
Preston, survived him some three years and she died on the loth day of 
February. 1888. Samuel Woodworth, who married Ellen L. Preston, died 
March 14. 1899. Mrs. .\lthea M. Fancber. another daughter of William and 
Mary Preston, died September 13, 1900, while Celie E. and Emma .A. Pres- 
ton, her sisters, had preceded her some years l)efore to the unknown. 

Martha, wife of Albert A, Preston and the mother of Wilber E. Preston, 
of Mt. Pleasant, died on the 25th day of February, 1900. 

Free Estee. who was a son of Perry H. Estee. one of the earliest settlers, 
was born in Michigan, was educated, became a lawyer, justice of the peace 
and member of the Legislature, and died October 2j. 1897. 

George Mosher. a son of Nelson Mosher, was born in this state and came 
to Mt. Pleasant with his father. He was a bright and energetic young man, 
but met with a sad accident at Coldwater lake and was drowned on the 23d 
day of March, 1878. 

Elijah IJ. Wheaton was an early settler in the north part of the county, 
where he settled on a farm and cleared and tilled the soil for a time, then 



326 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

went to Clare, where he l^ecame a lawyer and judge of probate and afterward 
removed to Mt. Pleasant, where he held several offices of trust and was 
considered an exemplary gentleman. He died on the 4th day of July, 1901, 
at the age of sixty-four. 

On the /th day of November, 1854, Joseph Roberts and family and 
Patrick Fanning and famih moved into the county and made settlement on 
lands in the township of Coe, Roberts settling on section 2 and Fanning on 
section 11, and there they hewed out homes for themselves and their families. 
There they worked, chopping and clearing away the brush and timber and 
rolling up logs for a house and what other liuildings they were able to build 
and needed. It was a lonely business for a time, but there seems to be a 
charm about a new home in the forest that you find nowhere else and it seems 
as if it must be that we get closer to nature there than in a crowded city or a 
cleared-up country. There they lived and delved until they made a home and 
reared a family, some of whom are still here to represent the kind of settlers 
they were and have already proven the stability and worthiness of their 
ancestors. Mr. Roberts died in February, i860, and Mr. Fanning remained 
until January 18, 1891. when he too went to his reward, both of them leaving 
a worthy posterity to mourn their departure. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



TOWNSHIP AND VILLAGES. 



The early ortjanization of the townships is an ini|)(irtant feature of a 
reliahle hist<iry of the county. It will to a larjjc extent sliow wlicre tlie first 
and principal settlement.^ were made and will mark the carlv development of 
the different secti(tns of the county: for where the white man planted himself 
and family there were sure to follow others to help lighten the burdens of 
living in a wilderness wild, with none of the luxuries or pleasures of life 
unless you could wring them out of the solitary woods, out of the ring of the 
a.xe as it sunk in the side of the stalwart oak or maple: the crack of the rifle 
as it sends its missile ;iftcr the hounding deer: the hark of the wolf as he 
prowls about your log cabin and sniffs through the chinks in the wall : or the 
squeal of the last pig as bruin has appropriated it and hies off to his lair. 

COE TOWXSIIIP. 

Coe township was the first one organized by the Legislature bv act Xo. 
151. ".\n act to organize the township of Coe in the county of Isabella. 

"Section i. The People of the State of Michigan enact, that tlie surveyed 
townships descriJJed as towns 13 north, of range 3 west, and 14 north, of 
range 3 west, in the county of Isabella, be and the same are hereby organized 
into a township by the name of the township of Coe, and the first township 
meeting therein shall be held at the house of Mr. Campbell, on section 17 in 
town 13 north, of range 3 west. .Vjiproved February 13, 1835." 

William B. Bowen was elected the first supervisor, in the spring of 1856. 
Isabella county not having yet been organized. Bowen was forced to go to 
Midland county seat u> attend the sessions of the board, a distance of some 
sixteen or eighteen miles as the crow flies, but any distance you may desire 
through the woods, swamps and marshes. .At the general election, 1836. there 
were sixty-six votes cast, all of which had to be written with ])en and ink. 

ISABELLA TOWXSIIIP. 

.\fter the nrganization of Coe, and about 1837, the balance of the countv 
was organized into a township called T.sabella. Charles .\. Jeffries was the 



328 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

first supervisor. He lived at the center of the county, where the county seat 
was first located. He was also obliged to go to Midland to meet with the 
board of supervisors, which was not a task to be sought for the pleasure there 
was in it. It will be seen that he was much farther from the place of meeting 
than the supervisor of Coe, who was located in the southeast part of the 
county, while Jeffries was at the center. Jeffries' constituents were mostly 
Indians, as the Indians had just commenced to move to Isabella county and 
settle upon the lands set apart for them by the treaty of 1835. Up to this 
time there was no settlement in this part of the county save possibly one 
settler at the center, John M. Hursh, who had located just south of where Mt. 
Pleasant now is, and A. M. Merrill, located on section ^2, township 14 north, 
range 4 west. 

CHIPPEWA TOWN.SHIP. 

Afterward, and on or about the 12th day of October, 1858, the town- 
ship of Chippewa was organized out of township 14 north, range 3 west, and 
the election to be held on the first Monday of April. 1859, at residence of \\'il- 
liam Payne and Langdon Bentley. ^^'illiam F. Payne and John Fraser were 
inspectors of election. At the first election Xorman C. Pa_\ne was elected 
supervisor. These were the three townships organized at tlie time of the 
organization of Isabella county in 1859. 

UNION TOWNSHIP. 

Union was the next township to be organized, which was done by the 
board of supervisors at their session March i [, 1861, on petition of Langdon 
Bentley and others, asking that the following territory he organized into a 
township, to be called Union, to wit: Commencing at the southeast corner of 
section 12, in township 14 north, range 4 west, running thence west to the 
southwest corner of section 5. in township 14 north, range 5 west, thence due 
north to the northeast corner of section 4, in township 16 north, range s west, 
thence due west to the northwest corner of said county of Isabella, thence south 
to the southwest corner of township 14 north, range 6 west, thence east to the 
southeast corner of township 14 north, range 4 west, thence north to the place 
of beginning. The first township election to be held in the school house in 
.school district No. i, on the first Monday of April, 1861, at eight o'clock in 
the forenoon, and Hiram Sherman. Andrew J. Goodsell and Albert G. Ferris 
to be inspectors of the election. At this meeting ^^^ R. Robbins was chairman 
and Douglas H. Xelson, deputy county clerk. At said election Langdon 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 329 

Bentley was duly elected supervisor. The school house referred to was a log 
school house, and stood on tlie ground about wliere the residence of William 
Crowley is now situated, on the nurtiiwcst corner of the nortiieast (juarter of 
section 2"], townsliip 14 nortli, range 4 west. 

The south part of the county was beginning to settle c|uite rapidly on 
account of the passage by Congress of the Homestead bill, which gave to the 
settler one hundred sixty acres of land substantially free, only requiring of him 
a small entry fee and a settlement and residence upon the said land for the 
term of five years; when he had performed that and had improved the same 
in good faith, he was to have a patent in fee simple of the said land. The 
Homestead act was passed by Congress and approved May 20. 1862. Section 
2289. United States statutes, provided, that every person who is the head 
of a family, and who has arri\ed at the age of twenty-(jne years and is a 
citizen of the United States, or who has tiled his declaration of intention to 
become such as provided by law. shall be entitled to enter one cpiarter section 
or a less quantity of unappropriated public lands. 

As soon as it was known that tliere were tracts of land in Isabella county 
that could be taken under the homestead law. settlers began to tlock into the 
county, and the lands were eagerly sought for and settled u[)on. This brought 
in many permanent settlers and they spread through the south and west part 
of the county. On the loth day of January, i860, the board of supervisors 
being in session and notice ha\ing lieen given in due form, a resoluti<in was 
passed detaching from the township of Isabella and attaching to the township 
of Coe, township 13, range 4, 3 and 6 west, thus .giving to Coe the four 
south townships of the county. 

FREMONT TOWNSHIP. 

.\t the October session of the board of supervisors, in 1863. a resolution 
was passed organizing townshiji 13 north, ranges 5 and 6 west, into a town- 
ship to be known as the township of Fremont. The first township meeting 
was to be held at the residence of Jerome P)achelder. on section 11. titwnship 
13 north, range 5 west: William Tiffany. Jerome Bachelder and James C. 
Caldwell were to act as inspectors of election, said election to be held on the 
first Mondav of .April, 1864. The election was held as directed and William 
TifYany was elected supervisor. William H. Harrison, clerk. W. Winters, 
treasurer, and Xorton Skinner, justice of the peace. 

.\t the same session of the said board of supervisors and on the i6th of 
October, the township of Lincoln was duly organized, to consist of township 



330 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

13 nortli, range 4 west, the first annual township meeting to be held at the 
house of H. N. Griswold, on section 15 in said township, and W. J. Griswold. 
Wesley Corbus and F. I. Williams to act as inspectors of the election. The 
township meeting was held on the first Monday of April, 1864, and F. I. 
Williams was elected supervisor of said town. 

VERNON TOWNSHIP. 

Vernon township was duly organized by the board of supervisors June 
II, 1866, on application of Cornelius Bogan, Simon Haggerty, James M. 
Stough, John Herring, B. C. Farnham, George R. Pease, O. H. Farnham, 
George W. Stine, Patrick McLaughlin, Duncan Carmichael, Abel Bywater. 
William Phinnisey, George ^^'illiams, Jacol) E. Shaffer, John O'Xeil and \\'. 
L. Turbusli. 

Said township was to consist of township 16 north, range 4 west, with 
townships 17 and 18 north, ranges 3 and 4 west. The first election to be held 
at the residence of George \\'. Stine, on the second Alonday of July. 1866, 
with William Phinnisey, Cornelius Bogan and James M. Stough as inspectors 
of election. William Phinnisey was elected superx'isor at the first election. 
There were seven votes cast. 

HOLLAND TOWNSHIP. 

At the October session of the board of super\-isors, held October 9, 
1866, on application of W. B. Goodwin, Granderson Norman, William M. 
Peterson, Aaron F. Norman, Levi P. Beardsley and several others, township 
13 north, range 6 west, was erected into a town to be known as the town of 
Rolland. and the first election to be held at the lumlier camp of John Bailey, 
on the first Monday of .\pril. 1867, WilHam M. Peterson, S. E. Chapman and 
Daniel Robinson to act as inspectors of the election. In April the election 
was held and William M. Peterson was duly elected as supervisor. 

BFOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP. 

-Afterward, on the 3(1 day of March, 1868, the application of L. C. Griffith 
and thirtv others was presented to the l)oard of supervisors, then in session, 
for the erection of a township to be known as the township of Broomfield. 
and to consist of township 14 north, range 6 west. After investigation, it 
was decided to grant the petition, and Broomfield township was set up, with 



ISABKLL.V ClUNTV. MICIIICAX. 331 

authority to iiold an election on the first Momlav nt April, iSf)<S. ;it the 
lumber camp of E. Hall, located on section i6 in said town; Elijah Cole, J. 
Hutchinson and George L. Hitchcock were appointed to act as inspectors of 
election. At such election \\'illiam Broomllekl was duly elected as supervisor, 
which was very appropriate action, for the reason llial tlic township was 
named after and in honor of their townsman. 

COLDWATER TOWNSHIP. 

On the same day that Broomfield was organized, an application was 
made by S. S. Smith and thirty-five others, for the organization of a town, to 
be known by the name of Coldwater. and to consist of township i6 nortli, 
range 6 west: the inspectors of election to consist of H. A. Bruhakcr, 11. 1!. 
Roberts and W. W. Ryerson ; the first election to l)e held on the first Monday 
of April, i868, at the .store of H. B. Rol:>erts. At the time appointed the said 
election was held and J. J. Colley was elected its supervisor. 

SITF.RM.VN TOWXSIIIP. 

October 13. 1868. the board of supervisors, on the petition nf Miln T. 
Dean, Cyrus Dunliar and others, praying for the erection of a townshi]) out 
of township 15 north, range 6 west, to be known as the township of Sherman, 
by resolution offered by P. H. Estee, the prayer of the said ])etitioners was 
duly granted and the time for the first township meeting for the election of 
town officers was fixed as the 29th day of October, 1868, at the house of 
Cyrus Dunbar, and Cyrus Dunbar, Milo T. Dean and Aaron Oshern were duly 
a])pointed as inspectors of said election. At such election John T. Cohoon was 
elected tn the office of su])crvisor. 

GILMORE TOWNSHIP. 

.\pril 13. 1870. the ap])!ication of citizens of tnwnshi]) \f) UDrth, range 5 
west. ha\ing been i)rescnted to the board of supervisors and ha\ing been duly 
considered. John Maxwell, then supervisor of the township of Lincoln, of- 
fered a resolution ordering the erection of such a township, which was 
adopted, and named dilmore. after General Gilmore. which name was sug- 
gested by Rufus Glass, the first township meeting to be held at the residence 
of Rufus Glass, on the northeast quarter of section 24. he being one of the 
first settlers of that town: said township election to he held on the 28th dav 



332 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

of April, 1870. and Rufus Glass. Amos F. Albright and Jessie Wood were 
made inspectors of the election. At which election Rufus F. Glass was elected 
supervisor. 

WISE TOWNSHIP. 

Wise was the next township to he erected, and to consist of townships 
15 and 16 north, range 3 west. Such a petition was presented to the board of 
supervisors at their session on January 4, 1872. and was duly granted, the 
election to be held on the first day of April, 1872, with George W. Wise, 
Benjamin L. Loyd and Cornelius V. Hulburt as inspectors, said election to be 
held at the school house in tlie village of Loomis, which resulted in the choice 
of Isaiah Windover as their supervisor. 

DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP. 

Deerfield was ne.xt added to the list of organized townships and was 
composed of township 14 north, range 5 west, and was authorized by the said 
board of supervisors on the 14th day of October, 1874, pursuant to a petition 
of William M. Peterson and others, after an investigation and report of a 
committee of said board, duly appointed to investigate the legality and suffi- 
ciency of the proceedings. Such report being favorable to the organization 
of the township, on motion the said town was duly organized, to be known as 
the township of Deerlield, the election for township officers to be held at the 
house of Joseph S. Brazee en the 5th day of April, 1875, and William M. 
Peterson, Frederick M. Sanderson and Maiden R. Beach to be inspectors of 
election. A super\isor demanded the yeas and nays on the adoption of the 
resolution. The result of the vote was yeas, Messrs. Bogan, Bown. Brodie, 
Broomfield, Davis, Doxie, Estee, Fordyce, Grinnell, Mattison, Richardson 
and Voorhees ; nays, none. At the April election for town officers \\'illiam 
Peterson was chosen as supervisor. 

NOTT.\W.\ TOWNSHIP. 

On January 8. 1875, a petition was presented to the board of supervisors 
for the organization of the township of Nottawa, to consist of township 15 
the yeas and nays was demanded, and on roll call resulted, yeas, Messrs. 
Bogan, Bown, Brodie, Broomfield, Doxie, Estee, Fordyce, Wooden, Mattison, 
Richardson and Voorhees; nays, Mr. Davis. The first Monday in April, 1875, 
was fixed for the first election in said township and to be held at the house of 



ISABELLA CdfXTV. MICIIICAN. 333 

Eli Ford; Eli Ford, Michael McGehan and John Hyslnp were to act as in- 
spectors of election. At said election Michael McGehan was elected their 
supervisor. There were thirty-three votes cast, five white and twenty-eiglit 
Indian. This township is named after an old Intlian chief of the Chippewas 
of Saginaw, Swan Creek and Black River Indians. 

At the same session a petition was presented by H. H. Graves and 
eighteen others, asking that the board detach from the township of Isaliclla 
sections i to 12 inclusive, in township 14 north, range 4 west, and attach the 
same to the townshii) of Union. Also a petition to the same effect by I'eter 
Jackson and thirty-six others from the township of Isabella. Said petitions 
were duly referred to the proper committee and after due consideration the 
said committee reported in favor of granting their request, and by a resolution 
offered by Supervisor Bogan the request was granted. 

This action left the county duly organized into townships of one full 
township of land of thirty-six sections each, except the township of Wise. 

DENVER TOWNSHIP. 

Centennial year is at hand. The board of supervisors are in session. A 
petition is presented to said board for the organization of the township of 
Denver, which was at that time a part of the township i)f Wise. They asked 
that the territory known as township 15 north, range 3 west, be detached 
from Wise township and lie organized into the township of Den\er, which, 
after due deliberation, was granted, the first meeting to i)e held at the house 
of Robert Pearson, on the 3d day of April, 1876, with James Render, Anson 
Fitchet and Robert Pearson as inspectors of election. At said election R()l)ert 
Pearson was elected supervisor. 

Tills rounds out tiie full list of township organizations for the couiit\' 
and gives to each its full quota of sections of land, namely, thirty-six sections, 
or approximately twenty-three thousand forty acres of land, to the township, 
or three hundred sixty-eight thousand six hundred forty acres in the countv. 

For ready reference, coniniencing at the southeast corner of the countv, 
and following the township and range, we have first the township of Coe, 
named after Lieutenant Governor George A. Coe. He was lieutenant-gover- 
nor at the time of the organization of the township. 

The next one west of Coe is the township of Lincoln, named after the 
martyred President. The next one west is Fremont, named after General 
Fremont. Xext is Rolland. Then returning to the east side of the countv 
and north of Coe lies Chippewa, named after the river of that name passing 



334 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

east and west tlirough the said township. Next west is Union, and west of 
that comes Deerfield, deriving its name from tlie prevalence of deer in the 
early days of its settlement. West of that comes Broomfield, named in honor 
of one of her earliest and most respected townsmen, William Broomfield, a 
citizen of the town wlien organized and still living near his old home. 

Returning again to the east side of the county and north of Chippewa, 
is located Denver ; west of Denver is Isabella, of the same name as the county ; 
next in order is Nottawa, named after the old Indian chief Nottawa. West of 
this lies Sherman, named after General Sherman. Returning again to the 
east side of the county and north of Denver, we ha^'e the township of Wise, 
named after the pioneer of the town, George W. Wise. Going west. A'ernon 
is the ne.xt, and next to that is Gilmore. And finallv the sixteenth and last <ine 
is Coldwater. 

THE FIRST SETTLERS. 

The first settlers went into the township of Rolland under the Homestead 
act of Congress, 1862. The settlers were Granderson Norman, who took his 
location January 9, 1863, Charles D. Robertson, William B. Goodwin, Amos 
A. Norman, John Martin, Daniel W. Robinson, Paul Smith, S. E. Cliapman, 
W'illiam Cowden, ^^'il!iam ^I. Peterson. Daniel Doxy, A. Sanderson, A. Geer 
and others. 

In this township there were in 1876 about si.xty colored people and they 
were among the best settlers. They were industrious and honest and were in 
all good citizens. The first grave was dug on section 6, near the center, and 
contains the remains of Amos A. Norman (colored), who died of insanitv. 

The first settler in the new township of Broomfield was Dora\ille Whit- 
ney, who came in the fall of i860, and the first school house was built on 
section 31, and in this school house the first cjuarterly meeting was held by 
Rev. F. B. Bangs, in 1866, but the first sermon was preached by one Aldridge 
at the house of William Broomfield, the minister coming into the countv Ijare- 
footed. We understand that some good Samaritan furnished him a pair of 
boots to preach in, but allowing him to take them ofif before he left the 
county. The first Sunday school formed in this part of the county was in 
Rolland, at the first school htnise built there and was in 1876. 

Loomis was first started by Messrs. Wise and Loomis, they building the 
first mills. In March, 1871, George W. Wise, with thirteen men, landed 
where Loomis now is and commenced to Innld a saw mill, and on the tenth 
day they had a portable mill running and on the twentieth commenced mak- 
ing shingles also. Their mill was kept running most of the time day and 



ISABELLA COLNTV, MICHIGAN. 335 

niglit. cuUing lumber in the day time aiul sliiiigles nights. 'I'he mill hurncd 
in May, 1875. but was soon replaced l)y another. Wise & Loomis with 
others built and stocked a store. The I'lint & Pere Marquette railroad built 
a depot and a hotel was built, called the Ilnrsh House. There was also another 
shingle mill built,' which was run until 1874, when it blew up, killing one 
mail. In 1872 a company \vas formed and built a hemlock extract factory at 
a cost of fifteen thousand dnllars, and il has manufactured a large amount of 
extract, .\ftcrwaril a shingle mill was ])ut into the factory, l-'letcher Tubbs 
opened up the first farm in the township. The first religious services were 
held in the mill of Wise & Loomis I)y (.". \'. Hulbert some time in June, 1871 : 
a bible class was formed about the same time. In May. 1871. a .school district 
was formed, a school house built and the first school was taught therein by 
Miss .\llen. Mr. Cardy was the first man to introduce that grand curse to 
human society, a saloon. The first cause tried was for assault and battery. 

CITIES AND VILLAGES. 

The organization, growth and development of cities and villages in a 
county is an interesting subject. In a very early day in the history of Isabella 
county, in fact before there was very much of a ])opulation in the conntv. 
and very soon after the tide of emigration of the Chippewa Indians com- 
menced toward their reservation in Isabella, there were two ])arties, John S. 
Eastman and Francis C. Babbitt, who migrated to what was afterward known 
as Isabella City, and they, in connection with A. M. Fitch, then Indian agent, 
platted a part of sections 2 and 3 in the now town.ship of rnion. and caused 
the plat to be recorded in \'olume I of Deeds on page i^(). the same being 
recf)rded on January 23, 18^11. This was the first plat recorded in the county 
It nourished for a few years, and then it began to decline, as Mt. Pleasant. 
the county seat, had been located and was only one and one-half miles distant. 

Eastman & Babbitt opened a general store there. William H. Nelson, 
afterward judge of probate, built and conducted a hotel. In 1857 the Indian 
mills were built, consisting of a saw mill, the old sash-saw make, with a 
capacity of alwut four or five thousand in twenty-four hours. .\. grist mill, 
with one run of stone. The power was from a dam across the Chipi)ewa 
river. Major James W. Long also settled there and carried on business, built 
a store and afterward moved it to Mt. Pleasant. Babbitt & Xelson also 
moved their buildings and business tti Mt. Pleas.int and the city of Isabella 
ceased to be a city, and onlv a few houses now remain to mark the spot once 
noted as headquarters for the Indians of the tribes of Chippewas (^f Saginaw. 
Swan Creek and Black Rivei. 



336 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Duncan Carmichael homesteaded tlie first eighty acres that was settled 
upon in Vernon township. This was on June 6, 1865. and was located on 
section 22. He was piloted into the town and upon the land by the writer of 
this article and at the time lie settled there he was the only white man north 
of the Indian reservation. Soon thereafter William Phinnessy, \\'illiam Tur- 
bush. J. M. Stough. G. ^^'. Stine, C. Bogan, Peter Alger, John Baker, John 
Herring moved in and settled upon land and made them good homes Dr. 
J. H. Maynard was the first physician settling in the township, he settling on 
section 10 in October. 1867, and doctored and kept "batch" for four years. 
The first child l^irn in the town was Isabella Carmichael, born August 19, 
iSfif), and was named after the county. The first death was Murdock Mc- 
Swain. who was smothered in a well. The first marriage was B. B. Bigelo to 
Kittie Stough, on the 4th of July, 1867, who were married by old Father 
Sheldon. Methodist Episcopal minister. 

Everything that was used at that time had to be brought in on the 
back of a man or an Indian pony, and from ten to fourteen miles. Pork was 
then twent}-five cents per pound (a little ahead of present prices), flour 
twenty-three dollars per barrel, groceries in proportion, and then to l:e car- 
ried ten to fourteen miles over a trail and through the forest. 

The first sermon was preached by Rev. Keith at the house of Mr. Shrope, 
one mile south and one mile west of Clare, in 1867, and the first Sunday 
school was organized at the same place and in the same _\-ear. John Armstrong 
was elected superintendent. 

SALT RI\-ER. 

The \-illage of Salt River was platted l^}- Elijah Moore on the 5th day of 
Se])tember. 1866, and consisted of two blocks and twenty-two lots, and is 
located on the northwest quarter of the northwest cpiarter of section 9, town- 
shi]) 13 north, range 3 west. On this plat the same Elijah Moore 
built a hotel wliich for many years was the only tavern in that part of the 
county. In 1867 George W. Miller, one of the old settlers of the place, 
platted Miller's first addition to Salt ri\-er, consisting of three blocks and 
divided into forty-five lots. This plat was considerably built upon in the early 
days of the village, and there are some very good buildings on a portion of it 
at the present time. The principal business of the place has moved farther 
west where the village and the railroad is located. 

Later, in 1870, on March 9th, Miller laid out another plat on the south- 
west cjuarter of the southwest quarter of section 9, township 13 north, range 3 
west, called Miller's second addition. It consisted of one block and twelve lots. 
But little building has been done on this plat. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. . 337 

On the 26th (lay of April. 1870, MlijaJi Moore laid oft' another plat, con- 
sisting of one block and fi\c lots. Tliis was located just south of his first 
plat and was adjoining the highway running ntjrth and soutli. which street 
is called Chippewa street. 

VERNON CITY. 

Vernon City was estahlishcd by Jolni L. Markey in the year 1870, 
when, on the 31st day of Octol)er, he platted tlie northeast quarter of the 
northeast quarter of sectio" 3, in township of Vernon. There were one 
hundred and eighty-four lots in sixteen blocks. 

Quite a little village sprung up, but as Clare City was just across the line, 
it did not obtain any great dimensions. It is situated on a fine elevation 
overlooking the city of Clare, and makes a desirable place for one desiring a 
c|uiet abode. 

LONGWOOD. 

Longwood was established on I'ebruary 30. 187 1, In- Major James \\'. 
Long and John P. Hawkins. It was located on the mirth west (piartcr of the 
northwest quarter of section 11. of Union township, antl just across the 
Chippewa river from Isaliella City. Xot mucli was done by the Major to 
establish a city. He did. however. Iniild a sinall factory for the making of 
'"Monarch Bitters" and at on.e time offered to do something toward the build- 
ing of a court house for the county, provided the county seat would lie moved 
to his burg. The peojjle did not seem to take kindl}- to the pro])osition and the 
scheme failed for want of cheerful support. .Vnd soon after the Major 
moved all of his buildings and belongings to Mt. Pleasant and became a part 
of the citv. erecting a very large hotel on the s])ot now occupied by the Com- 
mercial block. 

LOOM IS. 

The village of Loomis was laitl out by I-lrastus Ci. Loomis, George W. 
Wi.se and E. F. Gould November 21, 1871. and being situated a part on sec- 
tion 9 and a part on 10. There were platted three hundred and ninety-one 
lots, in thirty-five blocks, surely a sufficient amount of land platted to warrant 
a goodsized town. The village thrived for some time and became quite 
notorious as the toughest place in the county. It was at first a lumbering and 
saw -mill tnwn. In the early days of the town, it was made up largely of lum- 
l)er laborers, manv of whom were reckless and disposed to drink and carouse, 
spending all of their earnings in the saloons. \'eiy .<oon after the mill was 
(22) 



338 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

established one Cady opened a saloon, which was soon followed by one Long 
Tom with another and which proved to be the roughest kind of a place. This 
man dealt out death and destruction in unstinted quantities to all that called. 
It soon became a menace to all good government, as well as to the safety 
and good order of the community. For all that, the place grew to be cjuite a 
\illage, until the lumbering ceased and the town was forced to depend upon 
its agricultural resources and then, being new and l)ut little land cleared, there 
was not much to support a xillage and as the mill was closed the laborer 
sought work in other places. The hotel and boarding house closed for want 
of patronage. There is now left only a couple of stores, a postoffice, school 
house and few other concomitants that go with a small community, with good 
railroad facilities, the Pere Marquette running through the center of the 
village. The people can now live in peace and quietude. The saloon has long 
since ceased to annoy the good citizens of the village, and the church and 
school house are steadily repairing the waste places. 

SHERMAN CITY. 

Sherman City, Gaboon's plat, was laid out September i, 1873, by John 
Cahoon and wife and was located on the north half of the northeast quarter 
of section 6, in the township of Sherman, and consisted of seventeen blocks 
with one hundred and thirty lots. It was located on the Chippewa river with 
the principal part on the east side. It was a good place to build a city. He had 
a mill site. A few dwelling? were erected, when Johnson & Ellis conceived 
that there was sufficient room and prospects for a larger city than Mr. Cahoon 
had realized, and they platted a part of the south half of the southeast quarter 
of section 31. in Sherman township, also a part of the southeast quarter of 
the southwest quarter of section 31 and a part of the northwest quarter of the 
northeast quarter and a part of the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter 
of section 6, in Sherman tov.nship, in all twenty-four blocks and one hundred 
and fourteen lots. The public highway was located on the section line be- 
tween section 31, Coldwater, and section 6, in Sherman, so that the Johnson 
plat had the advantage of being along the highway and equally well situated. 
Everything being equal, it liad the greater natural advantage and the village 
gravitated along the section line and most of the business was located there. 
The town thrived for some years, grew and became the headquarters for that 
portion of the county. Being upon the river, it was a central point for lum- 
bering operations in that portion of the great lumbering district of the north- 
west Chippewa. Thus, while in its prime the \illage grew. .A hotel was 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MKllIGAN. 339 

built, dry goods and groccr\- stores were opened, hardware was put in, espe- 
cially building and lumbering hardware supi)lies. So long as tlie lumbering 
continued it was a thriving village, but at last the lumberman was seen no more 
on her streets and the logs had ceased to sail down the raging Chippewa on 
the higli tide of the spring freshets. The farmer could no longer depend upon 
the men of tlie camp for his market nor find employment during the winter 
months for liimself and his teams, so he was forced to cliange iiis occupation 
to that of a farmer indeed and to clear up his farm, subdue the soil, put out 
his crops in the spring and reap in the fall. Under the ciiange wrought by 
conditions beyond the control of the settler, tlie tnwnsliip lias put on a new 
garb; the fields have been cleared of the brush and stumps and there are now 
to be found some of the most fertile fields in the county, some of the finest 
buildings to be seen anywhere in farming countries and the farmer is now- 
prosperous to what lie was when he depended upon the lal)or lie could secure 
in the lumlier camps. The \iliage has reduced somewhat its size and some of 
its strenuousness. but those that survived the ordeal are still tliere and doing 
business. 

DUSHVILLE. 

Dusiiville is the ne.xt t'l be considered. It was plattc<i on ( )ctol)er J3. 
1876, bv William Wiley Di'sh and embraced the nortliwest cpiarter of tlie 
northwest quarter of section 15. in tlie township of Fremont, consisting of 
fifteen blocks and about one hundred and twenty lots. It thrived, several 
business l)uildings were built and several good stocks of goods were i^ut in 
and sustained. It is situated in a fertile section and good farms are continuous 
to the village. The greatest drawback to its <levelo])ment was tlie cedar 
swamp lying along the west side of the i)lace, but that has been graded and 
gra\eled so that it is now a very good highway and very generally tra\cled. 
It holds its own as well as any of the small villages in the county for the 
reason that they have some very live and sulislantiaj business men. men that 
would lie an honor to any burg. 

BLANCH AUn. 

Blanchard is a village in the southwest part of the county. It was laid 
out and platted July 17, 1878, was on the northwest quarter of section 18, 
township 13 north, range 6 west. It is composed of forty-two blocks and 
about one thousand two hundred lots. It was a lively city in its ])almy days, 
when lumbering was in full blast. They built saw and shingle mills, with 



340 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

everything that accompanies such an industry-. While the kimbering lasted 
the town was very prosperou.:. There was a large amount of timber tributary 
to the village and it lasted for quite a number of years. At last it was ex- 
hausted and then the inhabitants were obliged to turn to agricnlture or move 
to other parts. A sufficient num1>er of merchants and business men remained 
to supply the wants of the community and they now have a bright little village 
and ha\'e a very good country about them. 

WINN. 

On November 21, 1885, one Samuel C. \\'illiams laid off a plat consisting 
of eight blocks of eight lots each, it being on the north half of the northeast 
cjuarter of the northwest quarter of section 15, township 13 north, range 5 
west, and being an addition to the village of Dushville, which is now called 
Winn. 

In 1885, when the Ann Arbor railroad was laid out and built through 
the lands of I. N. Shepherd, west of the village of Salt River, it was thought 
that it would be a proper thing to do to build up a burg between the railroad 
and the old \illage, so A. W. Wright, I. N. Shepherd, J- M. Kenter, Sidney 
Clark, E. Gruber, James Campbell, W. E. Wessels and John V. Struble platted 
a large tract of land and divided it into some twenty-four blocks and about 
four hundred Icits, there being about eightv acres of land on either side of the 
section line between sections 8 and 17 in the township of Coe. 

The result has show'n their foresight, as they now have one of the finest 
little villages in the state. The main street has grown up with first-class busi- 
ness houses and with good mills. They have a fine farming countiy about 
them, with many of the most prosperous farmers found in the county. E\ery- 
thing about the burg indicates thrift and prosperity. 

Oscar T. Brinton, in 1887, platted seventeen and one hundred and furty- 
four one-thousandths acres cf the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of 
section 15, township 16 north, range 6 west. This plat was afterward 
vacated. Again in 1889, on the -5th day of February, O. T. Brinton. Joseph 
Gerard, Lewis George, with their wives, platted a portion of the same forty 
acres into four blocks and seventy-two lots. This was first started as a home 
for those that had congregated there to work at the coal kilns. This part of 
the county was at that time covered largely with hard wood timber. The 
timber was several miles from any market and Mr. Brinton conceived the idea 
of cutting the timber and converting it into charcoal, which at that time bore 
a good price. The industry was carried on as long as there was an\- timber 



ISABELLA COINTV. MICHIGAN. 34I 

that CKuKl he reached and he made availaljle. Tlie Tere Marcjiiette raih'oad 
huilt a spur from their main line into the village, principally to carry out the 
charcoal and such other commodities as were there to convey. The charcoal 
business lasted for se\eral years, but was finally exhausted aiul then the little 
village declined until the farmers could get a start. A considerable of the 
village went out, but enough were left to fonn a center of trade in that vicinity, 
and now tliey have a few business houses. The unfortunate feature is that the 
railroad company removed tlieir track and all of their belongings, Icaxing the 
village without a permanent and sulistantial market. 

OTHER VII.I,AGi:S. 

Delwin. a small burg located on the I 'ere Marcjuette, between Mt. Pleas- 
ant and Coleman, about eight miles out of Mt. P'ieasant. was platted February 
18, 1888, and consists of five blocks and forty-four lots. It has a station and 
a few buildings. It has a very good country around the ])lace : has good rail- 
road facilities and will grow some as the country shall de\elop. 

Rosebush was platted by James L. Bush on the 28th of December. 1888. 
and was laid off with twelve and thirty-six one-hundredths acres of land on 
the south half of the south half of the southeast quarter of section 10, 
township 15 north, range 4 west, and is near the line of the Ann .Arbor rail- 
road and is accommodated by that road. It consists of four lilocks and fifty- 
four lots. 

Calkinsville is an addition to Rosebush and was platted by Elias B. Cal- 
kins, January 12, 1890. and consi.sts of four blocks and fifty-three lots. This 
is located on the southeast corner of section 11. township 15 north, range 4 
west. These two places really form but one village. It is a good, smart little 
place with a hotel, bank, elevator, hardware and diy goods stores, with all 
other kinds of shops and places for business, is located in a first-class fanning 
country', well improved, and are now awake to the building of good gravel and 
macadam roads, which, with their railroad facilities, will make it an ideal place 
for a farmer to buy and hold farming land. 

Elm Grove addition was platted November 8, 1894. and is laid off in the 
form of outlets, is situated on the west side of the railroad and depot. It is 
fine land and may some time become part of the village, but it is probably 
some time in the future. It is what its name indicates, elm bottom lands, very 
rich and i)roducti\e. but not enough as at present to warrant much of a city 
built upon it. 

The village of W'eidman is another of these burgs that sprung up when 
lumbering was the principal industry in the county. The village was platted 



342 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

September 15, 1894. lay J. S. Weidman and E. F. Guild. It lies in two town- 
ships, a part in Sherman and a part in Xottaway, on section 18 and the balance 
on section 13 in Sherman. It consists of some thirty-four blocks, divided into 
about four hundred and fifty lots. There are sufficient lots to warrant a good 
sized village. They ha\e alieady a fine nucleus for a considerable of a town. 
They have a good, safe bank, with several moneyed men at their back. Have 
a good flouring mill, elevator and the usual number of thrifty stores. It also 
has had to pass through the ordeal of changing from a lumljer town to a 
farming village and they have passed the ordeal much lietter than most of 
them ha\'e. The railroad is still there to gi\'e them a good outside market for 
their surplus products and to bring anything they may need from the outside 
world. 

Bissell's addition to the \illage of Shepherd was platted by Electa M. 
Bissell. It contained si.\ty-se\ en and one-quarter acres of the southwest quarter 
of section 9, township 13 north, range 3 west. This was platted in the form 
of outlots. It is a good piece of land and if the \'illage of Shepherd shall 
grow very fast, in time this property may be used for building purposes. It 
seems to be quite a distance from the business portion of Shepherd. 

Lawrence addition to Brinton was platted by George Lawrence January 
3, 1890. consisting of two blocks of thirty-three lots in all. It lies on the 
sotith side of the princiijal street in the burg and has its share of business and 
business houses. 

Beal City is another small hamlet of a few houses, store and post office, 
a Catholic church and parochial school. It is in the center of one of the \'ery 
best of farming communities. It is settled largely witl: Germans, a thrifty, 
prosperous and intelligent class. This is one of the places in the county that 
you can stand on a raise of ground and count from one spot nine large oval- 
roofed farm barns, a sight that is seldom witnessed anywhere in the state, or 
in any other state. It speaks \olumes for their industry and thrift. 

Caldwell is another little hamlet, the lands sold off by metes and bounds. 
It is located jtist east of the Chippewa river on section 7, Deerfield. It also 
has the usual concomitants cf a small village. It is away from any general 
thoroughfare save a common highway and is located abf)ut ten miles west of 
Mt. Pleasant and about si.x miles from Weidman. 

Leaton is another of the small places that ha\e sprung up along the Pere 
Marquette railroad, and is located about si.x miles northeast of Mt. Pleasant. 
It has a station, stores, a school house with two or three churches : has a won- 
derful fine farming country west of them and a fairly good soil on their east. 
It is a thriving little place, with good railroad facilities, and nothing but good 
work required to make them a liappy and jirosperous people. 



CHAPTER xxnr 



CITV OK M r. ri.EASAXT. 



In tlie summer of 1863, Har\c\- and (ieorge Morton, of Xew York, pur- 
chased of David Ward the original plat of ground where the village of Mt. 
Pleasant (now city) was located, and caused it to he platted and recorded, 
which was done in February. 1864. At that time there were in buildings the 
old court house; a residence on lot 10 of block 7. l)uilt and owned by Doctor 
Burt, afterward bought and occujiied by William I'reston and family: it is 
still standing: also a house built by Joseph Miser, built on the bl(jck where 
now stands the Fancher block. During the summer and fall of 1863 the 
Mortons built a hotel on the lot where now stands the Donovan hotel. 

The old Morton house was a wooden structure of the style and finish of 
a village hotel of fifty years ago. consisting of twentx-twn rooms, and was of 
sufficient capacity for the wants of the public for some time. It was run for 
a time by the builder. Harvey Morton, and tlien, in May, 1S64, Wallace W. 
Preston rented it and ran it for a time, when John M. Hursii bought it. He 
conducted it for a time and then, about May, 1865. sold tiie pro])erty to Wal- 
lace W. Preston, who took possession and conducted the hotel business for 
aljout three years, and then rented it to David Morse, who run it for about 
two years, when Preston .sold it to William Bamber. He conducted the busi- 
ness for a time and then sold to I'rank and Mike (THoro, who ran it until 
1883. when Patrick Donovan purchased the pro])erty and conducted it till 
1890. when he commenced the erection of a forty-fi\e room brick structure, 
heated with steam and finished in a commodious and attractive manner. He 
finished and opened his new building in 1891 and is still conducting the busi- 
ness Jt is the best situated of an\- hotel in the city. It has been a good ])ay- 
ing investment. 

The next hotel was built by Henry Dunton on South Main street. al)out 
half a block ofif of Broadway. It was first used as a store building. He used 
it as such for a time and then turned it into a hotel. He afterward sold the 
property to John Xicols. This hotel finally burned under peculiar circum- 
stances. It had a mortgage upon it. the mortgage was foreclosed and sold by 
the sheriff in the forenoon, and at ten o'clock at night of the same day it was 
binned to the ground. 



344 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Mt. Pleasant commenced her commercial career in an humlile way. Henry 
Dunton opened a small store in 1864, run it a short time and then sold it to 
John Kinney. In the summer of 1864 J. C. Groves brought in a small stock 
of goods and also sold to John Kinney. In the winter of 1864-5 Moses Brown 
Avas running a peddler's wagon ; the roads were simply trails through the 
woods, just so one could with great caution and perseverance get along. He 
broke down at Patrick Clary's, on the south line of Union township, and Mr. 
Clary hitched up his ox team and brought Moses out of the wilderness into 
the city. Moses placed his goods in the hotel Morton and proceeded to lay 
the foundation of what was afterward a successful business. Soon after 
Alexander Stevenson built a store and dwelling on North ]\Iain street and 
opened up a store of groceries and dry goods. He remained in business for a 
number of vears and then closed out his business and moved away. Not long 
after Stevenson opened up business he was followed by William N. Harris,' 
about 1866, who rented for a time and then, in 1869, built upon the block 
where the Commercial block now stands. He put in a stock of dry goods 
and groceries and continued in business for several years. Soon after Harris 
came. Babbitt & Nelson moved their store building and stock of goods from 
Isabella City to the lot where the Foster furniture and hardware store is now 
located. Then came the Doughty brothers, Wilkinson and Jared H. They 
opened up a store where the Fancher block now stands, and remained there 
until they were burned out in 1875. In 1876 they built a double store on the 
south side of Broadway, it being of brick and tlie first brick store in the city. 
Theirs was the first hardware store in the county. They remained in business 
for many years, but when they moved into the new stores divided the business, 
Wilkinson taking the dry goods and Jared the hardware. Jared afterward 
built a three-story building farther east on Broadway, moved out of the store 
on the corner and rented it to Marsh & Lewis. 

In the fire of 1875 thirteen business houses were destroyed, among them 
the store of Carr & Granger, which was situated at that time on the north 
side of Broadway, so in 1877 they built their brick store on the south side of 
Broadway and moved their stock of drugs and groceries into their new build- 
ing, and they are still doing business at the old stand. Carr & Granger and the 
Doughtys are the only parties that have continued in business continuously 
since 1869 and 1871. 

PLATS AND ADDITIONS. 

Business houses and residences kept dropping here and there so that tlie 
old plat was filling up. and enterprising men thought that it was opportune 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICllIC.AX. 345 

that additions slunild be added, and Langdun Hentlev, l^lisha II. Brooks. F. C. 
Babl)ett, W. H. Lockwood. Lucius R. Parker, Emily L. Case and John M. 
liursh platted wliat is known as the Bentley adchtion to tlie \ illage ( now city) 
of I\It. I'leasnnt. This was in Deccmlier. 1867, and comprised a part of tiie 
southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 15, township 14 north, 
range 4 west, consisting of ffteen blocks and eighty-one lots. It is today one 
of the best built portions of Mt. Pleasant. July 13. 1875. j. Kufus Smith 
platted twenty-three and one-quarter acres of the southeast (piarter of the 
southwest (|uartcr of said section 15, into nine blocks, containing eighty-six 
lots, now known as Smith's c-ddition to said city of Mt. Pleasant. This joins 
the old plat on the soutlnvest. This proved to be a judicious proceeding, for 
the reason tiiat it is nearly all built upon, there being scarcely a vacant lot. 

A little later Hon. Samuel W. Hopkins, desiring to better his worldly 
tondition, conceived the idea of adding to his luaterial wealth a few more 
shekels, and to add glory in the perpetuation of his name did, with I. 1".. 
Arnold, Sarah C. Huntress, C. AI. Brooks and E. J. Wiley, on the 15th day 
of Octoljer, 1875, plat a portion of the south part of the southwest quarter of 
the southeast quarter of section 15, aforesaid, into what is known as IIo])- 
kins' addition to said city of Mt. Pleasant. This consisted of six blocks and 
fifty-one lots. This, too, is now all or nearly all built upon, with many of the 
finest residences in the city. Among those now living on the said plat is Mr. 
Hopkins, Howard Chatterton, of the firm of Chatterton & Son. Roliert C. 
\\'ardrop, F. J. Thiers. Hon. F. H. Dodds. Samuel Morrison, ^^'hile the city 
was building up on the south, it was also extending east, and on June 2~. 
1877, John Kinney platted the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter and 
the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of said section 15. into thirty- 
one blocks, having two hundred and fifteen lots. A large [lortion of these 
lots are now occupied by residences, among them some of tlie most costly and 
elaborate of any in the city. It contains tlic (|uiet part of the city, not dis- 
turbed by the presence of the large number of normal students that are found 
in closer proximity to the normal school on the south side of the city. 

Hall's addition was the next to be added, platted by Alexander Hall and 
wife March 29, 1880, and was a part of the southeast quarter of the south- 
east quarter of section 15, aforesaid. It consisted of eight blocks and thirty- 
one lots, block eight consisting of but one lot, as that was the location of his 
home where he lived for a great many years. 

Partridge addition lies west of Hall's and is ])art of the southwest (juarter 
of the southeast quarter of section 15 aforesaid, and consists of five lilocks 
and is divided into twenty-two lots. It was platted by D. Scott I'artridge. 



346 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

Frank and Jared Doughty. S. A. and Fred Huntress. S. W. Hopkins, Francis 
L. Brooks and Sarah E. H-enderson. April 9, 1880. It adjoins Normal avenue 
on the east, and has several residences of the normal professors, among them 
President Grawn. Professor Calkins. Professor Bellis and Bessie \\'ightman. 
head of tiie drawing department. 

Bennett's addition \\'as laid out by Cornelius Bennett and wife un May 
5, 1882, being the east thirty-three and one-third acres of the northwest r|uar- 
ter of the northeast quarter of section 15, and consisted of sixteen lilocks. 
divided into one hundred and twelve lots. This is pretty well built up with 
residences and lies just east of the grounds of the Pere Marquette railroad. 

July 31. 1884. Thomas J. Fordyce and C. Bennett platted fifteen and 
ninety-two one-hundredths acres of the southeast quarter of the southeast 
quarter of section 10. in township 14 north, range 4 west, into eight blocks, 
divided int(j fifty-one lots; some of these have been built upon, while the rest' 
are still vacant. 

Jnhn Kinney platted his second addition September 15. 1884. covering a 
part of the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of said section 13. into 
nine blocks and seventy-two lots. This addition has been partially built up. 
but there are still some lots suitable for good residences. 

A few houses had been built on the west side of the Chippewa ri\er. 
Leaton & Upton, owning some lands on that side, thought it would be a good 
idea to plat the land and on the iith day of October, i88G, they laid off a 
part of the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 15, into four 
blocks, containin,g thirty-six lots. INIost of these lots are now occupied by per- 
manent residents. 

Hopkins & Lyons seem to have been impressed with the same spirit, for 
on the next day. the 12th day of October, they platted a part of the south one- 
half of the north one-half of the southeast quarter of section 16. into twelve 
blocks and one hundred lots. These are nice, rich garden lands and also good 
residence property. 

November 5, 1887, Young & Vedder platted a part of the southeast 
quarter of the southeast quarter of section 15, into lots and blocks and known 
as Young & Vedder's addition to Mt. Pleasant. There were thirty-two lots 
in six blocks. 

Douglas H. Nelson was the owner of the northeast quarter of the north- 
east quarter of section 22. within the city limits, and on the i8th day of May, 
1888, he platted thirteen and thirty-eight one-hundredths acres of the forty 
into eighty lots and six blocks. A few good houses have been built upon the 
property and the l^alance is suitable for city property or for farms. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 347 

Addition of Stones outlots were ])latte(l 1)\- Marv and Celia lleatlier, in 
connection witli Stella G. Leaton. May 15, 1891. It consisted of sixteen lots 
on East Broadway, being a part of tlie north half of the southeast quarter of 
section 14, township 14 north, range 4 west. These lots arc quite well built 
up, they are good grounds for gardening and some of them are used for that 
purpose. 

The old gentleman. William Bamlier. some years ago, bought and built 
up on a part of the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 15 
aforesaid, which property afterward came to his son William, who on Octol)er 
5, 1891, platted his holdings into twenty-two lots. Most, if not all, has been 
sold and largely built upon. 

The ne.xt addition was that of Martins, which was a part of the north 
half of the northeast quarter of section 22, known as the Hursh farm, it 
being the first piece of land settled upon in the towushi]). The People's Sav- 
ings Bank. l)y its president. Henry Uittman. and its secretary. John F. Ryan, 
executed the plat on the 21st day of March. 1892. There were twenty-two 
lots. It is well located and has a number of good residences upon it. 

College Hill addition was added about the same time, consisting of two 
blocks, and being also a part of the old John M. Hursh farm. This was 
platted May 26, 1892, is a fine level piece of ground, and largely built over, 
being in close proximity to the normal school, wiiere large numbers of 
students find rooms and board. 

Bennett & Burrows added another plat to the city Jwne 22, 1892, con- 
sisting of sixty-eight lots in eight lilocks, and being a part of the northwest 
quarter of the .southwest (piarter of section 14. and lying on East Broadway. 
The soil is good for gardening as well as for building purposes. 

John W. Hance was the next to seek his fortune by laying out an 
addition to the city. This time it was on the southeast part of the city, and 
was a part of the northeast quarter of the northeast (piarter of section 22. 
in said township. On the 3d of October, 1892, Hance and W. W. Preston 
perfected the plat, consisting of fifty-five lots in three blocks. This plat is 
also near the normal school buildings, is of good soil and is building up as 
fast as could be expected. 

The Mt. Pleasant Improvement Company was formed in the vear 1892 
for the purpose of building ? normal school Imilding and equipping the same 
to be used for the purpose of conducting a normal school, especiallv to pre- 
pare teachers for teaching in tlie rural schools of the state. .\ p.irt of the 
old John M. liursli farm was secured and divided into lots and blocks, being 
])Iatteil necember 21. i8()2. There were two hundred and se\entcen l^ts 



348 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

and twelve blocks. Ten acres of the said ground were laid out in one block 
and donated to the normal school. The school building was built upon 
that block, which was numbered on the plat as block 10. The school building 
was placed upon this block, the balance of the block and a considerable 
portion of the plat in fact was and still is covered with native hardwood 
timber and is as fine a park in its natural state as can be found in the 
state. More will be said about the normal school under a separate head. 

On December 27, 1892, Moses Brown laid off into lots and blocks a 
part of the southwest cjuarter of the northwest quarter of section 14, in town- 
ship 14 north, range 4 west, there being sixty-eight lots in four Ijlocks. There 
is also in this plat a part of the south half of the northwest (piarter of the 
northwest charter of said section 14. This is also good fanning land. It 
was built up some and the rest is used for farming purposes. 

October 16, 1893, Edward S. Crowley and wife platted two ]jieces of 
land, one addition to Mt. Pleasant and the other in outlets, the lands being 
a part of the north half of the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter and 
the other a part of the north half of the northwest quarter of the northwest 
quarter of section 23, township 14 north, range 4 west. 

John F. Ryan, in April, 1896, laid out the east third of the southeast 
quarter of the northwest quarter of section 14 aforesaid, into two blocks. 

Lea's addition was added in 1898, being the north half of the south 
half of the northeast quarter of section 16, and divided the same into twelve 
lots. Not many of these have yet been built upon. 

John Kinney and Dr. Peter E. Richmond, in July, 1904, platted the 
northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 15, into se\"en blocks; 
this was so recent that not much has been done upon the addition. 

In 1894 and 1895, the then Commercial Bank platted what was called 
South Mt. Pleasant and an addition to South Mt. Pleasant, being a part of 
the southwest quarter of section 27, and being located about two miles south 
of the center of the city of Mt. Pleasant. It is so far from the city that it 
has not met the hopes and anticipations of the founders. It has one redeem- 
ing quality — it is good land and can be utilized for farming purposes by its 
founders, and as the bank has busted, it makes a good place for the officers 
to retire and reflect upon the uncertainties of life. 

EARLY BUSINESS HOUSES. 

Dennis R}an commenced the grocery business in Alt. Pleasant on South 
Alain street in the year 1878 and continued for a time, when he was burned 



ISABELLA COLNTV. MICHIGAN. 349 

out, which occurred April i. 1885. He tlien bought a buihhng which was 
being constructed on Soutli Main street. Tliis he finished and finally moved 
into it, where he reiuained doing a good business until 1889, when he was 
elected county treasurer and went out of the grocery business. 

B. Grossefent coninienced business for himself in 1902 in the confec- 
tioncrv and bakerv business. He continued in that business about one year 
and then added groceries and has been engaged in that ever since. He is 
having a good run of trade and has bought the building that he occupies as 
a grocery and the one adjoining, so that he is \ery nicely situated. 

In the year 1870 H. H. Graves came, in the government employ, to 
Isabella City and finally located there for a time. Soon after he came. Maj. 
J. W. Long was sent up by the government to designate the Indians as to 
their competency and he, too, finally settled there. He built a store build- 
ing which was occupied by Crane & Gilman as a general dry goods store. 
They remained there until 1874 and then moved to Mt. Pleasant with their 
families and stock of goods and remained here for some time. 

'riie Major also bought a piece of land on the east side of the river at 
Isabella and built a store tiicre and Long & Westlake opened a drug store 
which they carried on for a time there and then moved to Alt. Pleasant, 
where they went into business. The Major finally took chnvn his store 
buildings and moved them to Mt. Pleasant, ha\'ing secured the lot where 
the Commercial Bank block now stands and put them on the lot. one on the 
east side of the lot, which was occupied by Angell & Wood, and Long & 
Westlake put their stock of drugs in the west one. next to the Carr & 
Granger lot. 

These buildings were moved to Mt. Pleasant in 1874 and the .Major 
had also bought the lot that Doctor Richmond's office is on and had built a 
dw elling house there for his family. There being a necessity for a court room, 
the Major conceived the idea of taking his two stores, removing the roof of 
each facing each other and then putting up rafters that should reach from the 
peak of each to a peak common to both so as to cover the space l)etw een the 
two stores and thus make another store and also have a number of rooms 
in the second and third stories and this was done and completed and turned 
into a hotel called the St. James, which remained there until the fire which 
destroyed the St. James hotel, about i8Sj, after which, alx)ut 1885, the 
Major sold out and moved away. The burning of the St. James hotel caused 
some changes to be made, as Thomas McXamara was occuping one of the 
stores and Fred Pferdsteller another. McXamara removed to the Tunis 
W. Swart store, on the southeast corner of block 16. where Swart had, in 
1879. built a brick store building. 



•J50 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Abovit 1 88 s the principal men and firms in business in Mt. Pleasant 
were Carr & Granger, in the drug and grocery business ; in dry goods, John 
Maxwell. E. E. Wood, A. E. Chatterton. E. A. & W. E. Ward : in staple and 
fancy groceries, D. H. Gilman, W. S. Hunt, D. Ryan, E. G. Curtis, F. L. 
Davis & Company, and Kane Bros. ; in dry goods, boots and shoes were T. 
McNamara. H. M. Angell and W. Doughty; strictly boots and shoes, W. H. 
Yerrick and Alex Hall: in jewelry were C. H. Thompson and D. Switzer; 
in hardware, L, X. Smith. J. H. Doughty and George Falkner & Company. 
The hotels at that time were the Bennett house, built in 1883 by Cornelius 
Bennett and run by F. A. Stebbins and Marvin Richardson; the Bamber 
house, at the corner of ]\Iain and Broadway streets; the Peninsular house, 
operated by J. N. Vancise; the Union hotel, by M. S. Gar\'in, and the 
Exchange hotel, by Linus D. Estee; the Bamber house, conducted by Pat- 
rick Donovan, who built the present Donovan house in 1890. And, by the 
way. he is the onlv landlord now in business who was in the hotel business 
in 1885. All of the rest are away and out of business and most of them are 
now deceased. 

Of the drug men in business in 1885 there is now W. \\'. Cox and Gran- 
ger. Charles Westlake run the city drug store in the early eighties and 
McQueen & Ralph the ]\Iain Street drug store. They, too, are out of the 
business. 

At that time J. E. \\'ilcox and Fred Pferdsteller were in the furniture 
and undertaking business. The millinery business was represented by Mrs. 
C. Kimball. O. S. Stanton and Ruth :\I. Davis. For clothing we had Sam 
May, and he is here still and in the same business; Wadhams & Farrell and 
Frank F. Foster, both of the last gone. Russell & Whitney were in the insur- 
ance work, and in real estate were Hopkins & Lyons. Hance & Devereaux, 
Brown & Leaton, A. B. Upton and W. T. Cutler. V. F. Conlogu.e was the 
lone dealer in agricultural implements and in farm wagons and buggies. The 
dentists at that time were Dr. G. A. Goodsell and J. B. Van Fossen. Of 
liveries, we had George McDonald and Whitney Brothers, with V. K. Brown. 

.\bout these days. Proc & Bamber were running a foundry and planing 
mill, which has long since gone out of commission. F. E. Prince & Com- 
pany had a hoop and novelty mill and were doing a good business. That, 
too, has gone, and Fred has gone to Texas, where he has made a small for- 
tune. 

Mt. Pleasant at that time boasted of a novelty works owned and oper- 
ated Ijy Charles Jeffords and Charles C. Whitney. They manufactured doors, 
sash, blinds and did scroll sawing and ornamental work. 



ISABKI.I.A LULNTV. MICHIGAN. 35 1 

The city of Mt. Pleasant has liad a slow and steady growth. After the 
great fire of 1875, which destroyed nearly every business house in the city, 
the parties losing their property hy tlie incendiary fire did not lose courage. 
Although but few of tiiem had any insurance, still they went to work with 
a will and some of the burned district was rebuilt with brick. The Doughty 
Brothers built a double store of brick two stories high in 1876 and what gave 
them additional courage was llie building of the then new court house, wiiicii is 
still standing. In 1877 Carr & (hanger ])uilt a large two-story brick store 
which they soon thereafter occupied with their grocery and drug store and are 
still at the old stand, except tiiat Mr. Carr was removed by death about the 
27th day of December. 1910. In the \ ear 1877 the b'ancher brick block 
was erected on the southwest corner of block 18. It is a two-story building, 
intended for two stores and with ot'Hces in the second story. 

The east half was fitted for a iiardware store and was rented to L. N. 
Smitli, a hardware merchant, who remained in it for seventeen years. Then 
he built in 1894 on South Main street wiiere he continued in business for 
sexeral years, when he sold the stock to Frank B. Clark, who remained for a 
time and then Clark purchased the hardware stock of Jared H. Doughty and 
rented the Doughty hardware store and mo\ed in, combining both stocks. 
Clark continued the business for some vears. when he sold his stock of 
hardware and business to Johnson & Harper. They continued for a time 
and then Johnson bought out 1 l.irper and is still conducting the lousiness. 
Smith has retired from active business, but still owns his store and it is 
now rented to a clothing firm. 

One of the first of our merchants was iMancis C. Babbitt. He came to 
Tsabella City at first and when the Indians first settled there. He was from 
Cleveland, Ohio. Starting with a very .small capital, by saving, and prudent 
management and the full trade of the Indians for several years, he was able 
to amass quite a competency. He remained for a few years at the mills and 
then moved his buildings and business to Mt. Pleasant and established him- 
self in the northeast corner of block iT). where the firm of Babbitt & Xelson 
continued in business until the death of Mr. Babbitt about 1875. About 
August 31. 1897. tlie building and lot was .sold by Xelson to the Foster 
I'urniture and Hardware Company and thev took possession and commenced 
to improxe and beautify the jjroperty i)rei)aratory to i)utting in a new stock 
of goofls. which, as soon as it was comjjleted. were put in and they com- 
menced an acti\e and very profitable business and kept it up for a long time 
and until a disastrous fire overtook them in June, 1905, destroying the build- 
ing and injuring many of the goods. As soon as the insurance matters were 



35^ 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



adjusted they commenced the erection of a fine three-story brick building, 
which was finally completed about December 9, 1905, and they moved in 
with a fine stock and have been doing business ever since. They now have 
one of tlie best corners for business in the city and one of the finest store 
buildings and they are doing a nice and safe business. With their furniture 
and hardware, they have conducted an undertaking establishment and have 
done a handsome business in tliat department. 

Another old firm was that of Doughty Brothers, who came about 1869 
and opened a hardware Inisiness on the southwest corner of block 13, where 
the Fancher block now stands. They continued in business there until the 
fire of 1875, when they, with others, were burned out. They then bought 
some lots on the south side of Broadway, opposite where they had been in 
business, and in 1876 they completed a double store of brick and two stories 
high with Ijasement. They then divided their stock, Jared H. Doughty taking 
the iiardware and Wilkinson Doughty taking tlie dry goods, he drawing the 
east store, where he continued in business up to the time of his death, which 
occurred on February 7. 1909, and after his death his son, Ralph Doughty, 
continued to carry on the business and is still at his post waiting upon his 
customers as of yore. They have always been considered a good and reliable 
business house, and have in the time they have been in business done a very 
extensive amount of trade and today Ralph is enjoying liis full share of 
patronage of the city and country. 

Jared H. Doughty took the west and corner store and continued his hard- 
ware business for a number of years and then, finding his quarters too small 
for the business, he, in the year 1883, purchased a lot just east and adjoining 
Carr & Granger and built a three-story building of brick and adapted it espe- 
cially for the hardware business. As soon as it was completed he moved his 
stock into it and continued to carry on the business until he sold his stock 
to F. B. Clark and rented the store building to him. Mr. Doughty was a 
constant man in Imsiness, was alwa^'s at his post and did a fine business all 
of the years he was so engaged and is now enjoying the fruits of his labor 
and care, which he is justly entitled to. The business when sold to Clark was 
a union of the L. X. Smith stock and the Doughty stock. Clark continued 
in the business for a time and tiien sold to Johnson & Harper and then Johnson 
took over the Harper interest and is still conducting the business. 

Alexander Stevenson came September 17, 1867, and built a store and 
dwelling combined directly opposite and west of the court house and put in 
a stock of groceries and some dry goods. He continued for a number of 
years and then closed out and went to Ann Arbor, where his children were 
then in school, and finallv died there. 




MAIN STREET, MT. PLEASANT, LOOKINCJ SOC 111 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 353 

William N. Harris was an early merchant here, locating in the city 
about January, 1866. He rented a store on the southwest corner of block 
13. Mt. Pleasant, and opened a dry goods and grocery store. He remained 
there for about three years and then built a store on the northeast corner of 
lot 4, block 17, and moved over tiiere. He continued doing business as 
before and remained several years, when he closed out and moved to Britisli 
Columbia, where he died and was brought back to Mt. Pleasant for burial. 

Moses Brown was another venturesome individual who commenced 
business in an early day, as noted above. After he made his start lie pros- 
pered and carried on a lively and paying business. He changed locations 
several times and finally, with Mr. Balmer. built wliat was for some years 
known as the Brown block, located on the northwest comer of block 24. Mt. 
Pleasant, a three-story building of brick, well constructed, but at the time 
too far from the center of business in the city and, times being dull, there 
was not much to invite a change to that particular place, so that it did not 
prove to be as good an investment as they had expected and after a time the 
property was disposed of and Mr. Brown went out of mercantile business. 
He had invested somewhat in real estate and laid out an addition to Mt. 
Pleasant known as M. Brown's addition. He built a brick dwelling house 
upon a part of his addition where he made his home up to the time of his 
death, which occurred April 8, 1907. 

Worden & Gavitt came to Mt. Pleasant from Ohio about 1867 or 
1868 and erected a building on the north side of Broadway, on block 13, for 
a drug store. They commenced business in that line and continued tlie same 
until 1871, when they sold the store and stock of drugs to F. W. Carr. They 
remained but a short time and then went back to Ohio. 

Mr. Carr having bought and entered upon the business, soon thereafter 
George Granger took an interest in the business and the firm name was 
Carr & Granger and has remained so ever since. They remained in the first 
building until the great fire of 1875. \vhen they, with the rest of us. were 
burned out. They commenced immediately to rebuild and in sixty-six days 
they moved into tlie new building, 'ibis was a wooden building two stories 
high. They remained in this store while they were building tlie one they now 
occupy, which they commenced soon after the fire and continued at it until 
1877, when it was completed and they moved from the wooden building to 
the brick and have been tliere e\er since. They have been \ery busy men and 
have done a very large business in the retail of drugs and medicines and 
also of groceries, carrying at times thirty thou.sand to forty thousand dollars 
worth of stock and doing at times a large wholesale business. 
(23) 



354 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Mr. Carr died very suddenly on the 27th day of December, 1910, and since 
that time Mr. Granger has gone on with the business. It is a great load on 
Mr. Granger and as he has richly earned a rest he is reducing the stock with 
an idea, we understand, that as soon as it can be done with proper regard 
to all concerned the business will be closed up and Mr. Granger will take 
a long-needed rest from the active business of a store and spend more time 
on his farms and with his fat cattle and occasionally take a stroll up the river 
where the trout are always pleased to see him and seldom refuse to nibble 
at the tempting bait that he casts before them. He has a competency and 
as there is no need of his further spending his time over the books of a 
store he ought, in justice to himself and his family, save his strength and 
take especial care of his health. 

In 1875 the Fancher store was burned with the rest. In 1877 he built 
a double brick building suitable for two stores and offices above. As before 
stated, L. N. Smith occupied the east portion for seventeen years as a hard- 
ware store. The west store was rented November i, 1877, to Angel & Wood 
to be occupied as a dn,' goods store. They continued in the business until 
November i, 1881. It was afterward rented for a time to E. Angel and 
he continued for some time and after he went out then Alpern & Company 
took possession and remained for some time, when S. J. Harrison went in 
with a stock of dry goods and ran the business for some time and then went 
east to New York state ; after which Seitner & Company went in and 
remained for some time, doing a large business, when he concluded that he 
ought to be in a larger city and moved to Toledo, Ohio. In 1901, when Seit- 
ner moved away, it was rented to F. D. Graves for a racket store and he 
continued in that for a time, when he sold to the Wattermans. Watterman 
had taken the east store, having bought out the stock of Mr. Zank, the firm 
being then Watterman & Hagan Company. Limited. This firm continued 
in business at that place until February 15. 1903, when the \\'attermans 
bought out F. D. Graves and they took posession of the west store and have 
continued in that store ever since and are still occupying it. The Watterman 
Brothers have since enlarged their business to such an extent as to require 
more room and when the Kennedy Brothers and Patrick Leahy \-acated the 
two one-story buildings north of the Fancher block they rented those and 
added to their business to correspond to the extra room. 

This change was made about November, 1907. They continued for a 
time in this way until they and the Hagan Company each of them desired 
more room and neither desired to relinquish what the}- had, but finally Mr. 
Hagan, seeing no prospect of obtaining more room where he was, bought a 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 355 

double lot across the street and in 1910 built a fine double store of modern 
st\le and finish and about the 15th of last October moved his stock 01 goods 
to his new quarters. As soon as he moved out the Wattemian Brothers took 
possession of that store also and commenced to remodel it to suit their 
purposes and are now running a large department store of many kinds of 
articles such as are generally found in such a store. They are all good work- 
ers, attend strictly to business and are doing an excellent business and are 
reaping their reward in an advanccil patronage. They are introducing sev- 
eral new lines in their now extensi\e stock, which has already an extensive 
variety. When they have all of their lines in place they will have a model 
store and one where all can get a fair deal and their money's worth. 

Mr. Hagan started in willi Mr. W'atterman, as above mentioned, and 
continued in that name until W'atterman liought out Graves and then Hagan 
took in Mr. Proud and the firm was Hagan & Proud. This continued until 
about the first of January. 1906, when Mr. Proud went out of the firm and 
Mr. Hagan ran the business alone. He continued until about January. 1909, 
when the business w as taken over i)y Hagan & Company, a joint stock com- . 
pany witii ten thousand dollars capital, all paid in. This organization is 
still conducting the business and in their new store they surely have a fine 
show and are doing a clever business and displaying a fine line of goods. 
They are progressive and will surely, with their advantages of a fine store 
and good location, reap a good reward from their business. 

Away back, aljout 1^77. W- S. Hunt and his mother-in-law. Mrs. Mary 
M. Henion. came to ^It. Plea.sant and i)urchased each of them a business 
lot where the Kane Brothers are now located. They each built a building 
for business and Hunt started in the grocery business. He was a bright and 
alert individual and very eager to do business. He kept a good stock of 
goods and was alert to keep the best and freshest in tlie market. He pros- 
l)ered and some time after built a fine brick dwelling, the one where John 
Nefif now lives, .\fter awhile and about 1879, he purchased another build- 
ing lot and huih the 1)rick store now owned by Mrs. McXutt and occupied 
by her brother, Mr. Harris as a bakery. Mr. Hunt, after building his brick 
store, moved his stock of groceries into the new building and continued in 
the business until about 1883, when lie .sold his stock of groceries to Chatter- 
tons and the building to Gruner. who established a bakery there and con- 
tinued it up to the time of his death and after that his widow continued in 
tlie business up to 1909, when she turned the business over to her l)rother, 
Ralph Harris, who is still running the business. It has been a fine business 
and a fine place for the business. 



356 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

In 1883 the Kane Brothers came to Mt. Pleasant to start in business 
and bought the Henion building and also the east building formerly owned 
by W. S. Hunt, he having sold the property and Mrs. R. S. Johnson then 
owning it. The Kane Brothers started in the grocery business and con- 
tinued in that for the space of eighteen years, doing a good and profitable 
business. Then they sold out the groceries and opened up a boot and shoe 
store. In 1902 they concluded to build a brick block and entered upon the 
work. Having completed that, they then moved their stock of clothing into 
the new building and also opened up a clothing department and have since 
that time continued to handle both departments and with eminent success. 
They are reliable and steady workers, always accommodating and anxious 
to please and satisfy their customers. They have done a handsome business 
and have built up a good and substantial trade and stand today among the 
strong men of business. They have made good money and today are on 
easy street. 

Palmer & Taggart, druggists, started in business together on December 
20, 1902, in the building where they are now located on East Broadway, north 
side, and have continued and are always at their place of business. Palmer 
had been employed for about eight and one-half years with Carr & Granger 
just before he started in the present enterprise and Taggart had been in the 
drug business for himself in the city of Olivet for some six years before 
coming to Mt. Pleasant. 

Mr. Palmer is at present city treasurer and has held that office for some 
time. They are attentive to business and are doing a good business. They 
do not carry a large stock, but are credited with having good fresh drugs and 
medicines, and as being honest and competent in their deals. 

Will Lewis, the clothier, is the next on the street east in the clothing 
business. He started in Mt. Pleasant twenty-eight years ago clerking for 
Thomas McNamara and continued with him for six years, when he formed 
a partnership with Lew Marsh and they together bought out the clothing 
stock of Frank Foster, who was then in business here and had been for some 
time and was then located in the Hance & Deveraux block on the north side 
of East Broadway street. They remained at the same stand for some six 
years and then bought the J. H. Doughty store on the south side of Broadway 
and moved their stock of clothing into that building. There they remained 
until March 8, 1908, when they sold the buildings to the Exchange Savings 
Bank and the firm then dissolved, dividing their profits and the business and 
each went their way. 

Mr. Lewis took a short rest and then opened another gents' clothing 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 357 

and furnishing store wliere he is now located in the Dusenhury block on the 
north side of Broadway and is having a tine trade and doing a splendid 
business and following the old plan of a fair deal with all who come. 

Mr. Marsh, after a short rest, rented the John Neff building on South 
Main street and put in an up-to-date stock of clothing and gents' supplies, 
put in new and ui>-ti>date fixtures and furniture and is doing a very satisfac- 
tory business. He has been in the city for a long time until everybody knows 
him, as he clerked for Foster for a long time before he and Lewis bought him 
out in about 1889. 

W. W. Cox, the druggist, is located in the Deveraux block on the north 
side of Broadway street. He is one of the ancient business men of the town, 
having started in business here in 1884. He started on the south side of East 
Broadway and was there two years when he moved to his present quarters. 
He is a good, reliable and substantial ditiggist and business man, attends 
strictly to business and has made a success of it. You will always find him 
at his post ready to wait upon his customers, keeps a good stock and pleases 
his customers, and what more can anyone do. 

The Normal Drug and Book Company is an organization formed a 
few years ago as a successor of tiie Fox & Thiers and afterward the Thiers 
drug and book store. Fox came here and located in 1895 and Thiers fol- 
lowed the next year and they were together until 1898, when Fox went out 
of the firm and moved to the north. F. G. Thiers then continued the business 
up to 1907, when he and others formed a stock company of tiie business and 
it has continued in this form u[) to the present time. Mr. Cowdrey & Row- 
lader are the principals in charge of the business and have been for some 
time, as Mr. Thiers has been interested in other classes of business, being 
connected with the Isabella County State Bank and dealing in real estate and 
loaning money on his own account, so that Cowdrey & Rowlader are now in 
charge of the business and are well adapted to it. They are punctual and well 
informed in tliat class of work and seek to satisfy all customers and are surely 
making a success. Their stock is full and complete in both drugs and books, 
also stationer}- — in fact as to all that is expected to be found in such an estab- 
lishment. 

Continuing east on Broad-\vay, we come to another of the old estab- 
lished and well res])ected l)oot and shoe firms, Henry Diittman & Son. Henrj' 
Diittman started in business some twenty-eight years ago on the south side 
of East Broadway in the stand where Alex Hall was located. He remained 
there one year and then bought a wooden building where he is now and 
moved into that. This was in 1883. He continued in business at this place 



258 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

until the fire of 1894, which burned his building. They immediately com- 
menced to rebuild with brick and soon had a fine brick store completed and 
moved into it and have remained there, one of the reliable dealers in boots 
and shoes. In 1901 the business was taken over by H. Diittman & Son, the 
son being Edward Diittman. This is the present form of the firm. They 
surely get their share of the business and are as surely entitled to it, as they 
are considered as one of the most reliable of business firms. They carry 
a large stock from which their customers may select. They are reasonable 
in charges and reliable in recommendations. They intend to furnish you with 
just what you want and at a fair price and in all things be square and upright 
in their deals. 

Sam May, the clothier, is anotlier of the solid men of the city. He has 
been in Mt. Pleasant over thirty years and in business all of the time. He 
is very attentive to his lousiness and ready at all times to meet you at the door 
and show what he has for sale. He will treat you as a gentleman and give 
you the worth of your money. He came when he had to come by stage from 
St. Louis to Mt. Pleasant. Sam has some knowledge of pioneer life as well 
as mercantile business, having had long experience in both. 

Frank A. Sweeney came to Isabella county some thirty-eight years ago 
when the country was wild and not much settled. He had the pleasure of 
coming on foot from St. Louis to Salt River and there he secured an old 
gray horse to help in the balance of the journey. His mission was looking 
land and timber, which he followed for some time and then, in 1881, 
he concluded to enter the mercantile business at Mt. Pleasant and located on 
the spot where he is now doing business. He put up what then seemed to him 
to be of sufficient capacity for what he expected to do, but after being in busi- 
ness for a time he saw that he needed more room and in 1897 he remodeled 
and enlarged his building. His business has been general groceries and with 
that he has an elevator and handles beans and seeds. He has had a good 
business in his store and ele\'ator and has also dealt some in real estate and 
timber and lumber and, being a genial, happy and companionable fellow, has 
occasionally united business and politics and is now enjoying the honor of 
being one of the aldermen of the first ward of the city. 

P. Cory Taylor, the druggist, settled in Mt. Pleasant on September 11, 
1888. He came from Williamston, Michigan, and, with his brother, started 
in the drug business on the spot where Keenan & Son are now located on 
the west side of South Main street. They remained there until November of 
that year and then moved north on that street to the store where Minto 
Woodruff Company are located, next to Foster's furniture block. There 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 359 

they carried on the business for one and one-half years and then P. Cory 
bought out his brother and continued the business. He was in all fifteen 
years in the Nelson building and then moved to the Jacob Neff building, 
remained there six years and then, when the Exchange Savings Bank changed 
location, they fixed up their \acant bank building into a modern store build- 
ing and Mr. Taylor took possession of that and is still occupying it. He car- 
ries a large stock of drugs and medicine, wall paper, books and stationery, 
school supplies, kodaks and phonographs and other things too numerous to 
mention. He is doing a large and prosperous business, gives good satisfac- 
tion and is considered one of the stanch merchants of the city. 

On the same street and on the same side of the street is located Johnson 
Brothers' shoe and clothing store. John H. Johnson and James P. Johnson 
came to the county about 18S3 and were employed in lumbering, which they 
followed until about 1893, when they built a store on the west side of South 
Main street and in 1894 put in a stock of shoes, both ladies and men's wear, 
and followed that for eight years, when they added men's clothing and furnish- 
ings and have continued the same from that time. They have made a success 
and are doing a capital business, making money for themselves and doing 
good to others. They have a large and convenient store, two stories and a 
basement, all occupied by themselves and whoever calls on them will be nicely 
treated and surely made better and happier. 

John A. Kenney & Son are another of the prosperous firms of the city. 
They have been in business for the past eig'hteen or nineteen years and are 
carrying a large stock of groceries, dry goods, clothing and shoes — in fact, a 
general assortment of almost anything in that line that you may want. ^Ir. 
Kenney carried on the business alone until about ten years ago and then his 
son Mike became a partner in tlie business. They are cariying on a very 
large and lucrative business and probably have as many customers as any 
in the town. They are rushing all the time to keep up with the trade, are 
generally liked and are bound to succeed if fair dealing will do it, and it surely 
will. 

Keenan & Son commenced liusiness in Mt. Pleasant in 1893 in the line 
of meats and canned goods. They built their lirick block in that year and 
continued the business. Their store is a two-ston,' and basement building, 
with all of the appliances for the meat market business. After continuing in 
that line, they then added groceries, so that for some years past thev have 
been carrying both these lines and have made a success of the business. They 
are good business men and look after their affairs personally. When you go 
to the store and ask for any article that they have for sale you may be quite 



360 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

sure that you get what you call for and will at all times be nicely treated so 
long as you appreciate the favor and return the compliment. 

Jesse Struble also has a meat market on the same street which is located in 
tlie L. N. Smith building which has been fitted up so as to be a model market 
building. He opened his business during the last year and is carrying on a 
good and satisfactory market. He has been for years a dealer in cattle and 
other fat animals and is a good judge of all kinds of meat and can furnish you 
anything that your appetite may crave. Although he has been but a short 
time in this particular line, he is doing a very satisfactory business and giving 
good satisfaction. 

On the corner of South Main and Michigan streets, in the McNamara 
building, is located the firm of Pappas & Terkos, Greeks, who are engaged in 
the candy business and run a soda fountain in connection, also make and dis- 
pense ice cream, all of their own make. Their fountain is of the latest style 
and make, behig the 191 1 style. It manufactures its own ice, so that they do 
not have to depend upon the city ice. It is really a very nice, commodious 
and up-to-date piece of work and in warm weather will no doubt be an at- 
tractive and wholesome portion of their business. They are experts in 
making candies and are doing a fine business and say they are here to stay. 
They purchased the business of Patterson Brothers in October, 1908. Pat- 
tcr.'^nn Brothers were here some four or five years and had made a very good 
settlement, when they sold out and removed from the city. 

On the opposite side of South Main street, and south of Michigan street, 
is located one of the principal milliners, Mrs. Ella Fishley. She located in 
Mt. Pleasant something over a year ago, coming from the village of Clare. 
S'he carries a good stock of millinery supplies and is doing a good business, 
considering the time tliat she has been in the city. She is bright and alert in 
her business, gives good satisfaction and her trade is increasing to her great 
satisfaction and that of her customers. 

Thomas Dougherty, the music man, has been in the city for some 
t\\ enty-fi\e years and has all of the time been in the music trade in some form. 
He started in a small store just north of the Donovan hotel and reniained 
there for two or three years and then moved to the building that McMillan 
now occupies on South Main for a coal office. There he remained some five 
years and then moved to a store just north of the Fancher block where he 
remained about a year and then went back to the Welsh store, which he 
bought. He remained there two years and then sold the store to Sam Cover- 
stone and moved into the second story of the Neff building, where he 
remained for a vear and then moved back to the old stand north of the Dono- 



ISABELXA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 361 

van hotel, where he remained for five years and then moved to his present 
quarters in the Doctor McEnte brick store, just south of Micliigan street. 
Here he is now snugly located and doing a large business. He has not been 
asleep, for if he had been he couldn't have moved so often, but it seems tliat 
he is like the hoy's sno\\l)aIl. that every time it rolls o\er it adds one more 
layer of material ; so with Tom — he just accumulates and now has everything 
you want in the music line from a jew's-harp to a piano and it will surprise 
you to go into his place of business and see all that he has and the splendid 
bargains you can make with him. He has guitars, mandolins, violins, organs, 
pianos, phonographs, l^oth Victor and Edison, sewing machines, a cart load of 
records, sheet music till you can't rest — in fact, it would be easier to give a 
list of what he hasn't got than of what he has. .'Xnd he runs the United States 
Express besides. Now just give him a call and see if he doesn't make you 
happy, and if he can make a little out of you he will be happv also. 

Martin Welsh is another groceryman that has lieen here for some time. 
He came to Mt. Pleasant about twenty-four years ago, clerked for a time for 
Dennis Ryan and then bought a new stock of groceries and went into busi- 
ness for himself and has continued in that ever since. .Vbout five or six years 
ago he moved into tiie brick building where he is at present and has continued 
there, doing a fine business and one that is steadil\- increasing in volume and 
in profits. He keeps a good class of goods and gives general satisfaction to 
his customers. 

The next one on that side of the street is that of Morrison & Dains. 
They have the honor now of being the oldest firm in continuous business in 
Mt. Pleasant. A few weeks ago it was Carr & Granger, but on the death of 
F. W. Carr they, ranking second, became first. Mr. Morrison came into the 
city in 1871, when the place was very small, and went into the lumber and 
shingle business and has been an active business factor ever since. If any one 
can tell what he hasn't been into that is legitimate, we should be glad to note 
it. He was for himself for some time and then took in a ])artner, Mr. Dains, 
about twenty-six years ago. They have handled real estate, mortgages, all 
kinds of lumber and shingles, driven logs on the river, clerked, run an agricul- 
tural implement store, lx)ught out all kinds of broken and l)ankrupt stocks, 
sold bicycles, run a repair shop for the past twenty years, had a garage for 
the past sixteen years, sold automol)iles for several years, and bought a brick 
store building in 1894 where they are now in business. Sam has acted as 
under sheriff for a time and may be considered as an all-round man of busi- 
ness. The only way that we can account for his versatility in business is that 
he was born on the banks of the Kenneliec river, in P>ath. Maine, and if we 



^62 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

were sure that he would not object we would say in the year of our Lord 
1846. They are successful operators and have the ready money always to 
take any good thing found laying around. They are good citizens and are 
entitled to all of the prosperity that they enjoy. Mr. Dains, desiring to keep 
abreast the times and the ambitions of his partner, accepted the position of 
under sheriff last winter and is now enjoying that distinction. 

Daniel Anderson was in the grocery and shoe business commencing in 
1884. The first firm was Anderson & McLellan, who occupied the present 
Anderson block on South Main street. The company continued for about two 
years and then Anderson bought out his partner and for fourteen years con- 
tinued the business alone. He then sold his boots and shoes to Morrison & 
Dains and the groceries to Will Hapner. Hapner continued in the business 
for some two years and then sold the stock and it was removed out of the 
city. Mr. Anderson remained for a couple of years in Mt. Pleasant, then 
moved to Detroit, where he remained for two or three years, and then 
returned to Mt. Pleasant, where he still lives to enjoy the fruits of his toil 
for the time he was in business. He was a careful, prudent trader and made 
many friends while in business and money enough to keep the wolf from the 
door. Anderson built 'his brick block the same year he commenced business 
at Mt. Pleasant, and owns it still. 

The Minto Woodruff Company is another clothing, shoes and furnishing 
business house, located on the west side of South Main street, next the Foster 
furniture and hardware store. They have been in business here about eight 
years. Mr. Woodruff, who is in charge of the business, was originally from 
Union City, Michigan, and an old head in the business. They are carrying 
a good stock and doing a fine business. They have a centrally located place 
for business, being so near the main crossing of Broadway and Main street 
that they catch the eye of all persons coming to town. They are fair dealers 
and will give you a generous price if you want to buy and, by their square 
dealing, they are justly entitled to the reputation that they have earned since 
they came into the community. 

Stephen Dondero is another dealer who is entitled to favorable notice in 
this history on account of his faithful and efficient work done here in his line 
of work. He is a dealer in fruits and confectioneiy, together with all kinds 
of nuts. He came here from Owosso in 1899 and commenced his trade in a 
small way in a small store building on South Main street, east side, and sec- 
ond door from Michigan street. There he located and there he is still doing 
a prosperous business. At his post at all times, with a smile that says to everj^ 
comer, "Buy my candies, for they are sweet, and my oranges, for they will 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 363 

suit you. and the price is just right and will please both of us." If you go into 
that place you are sure to buy and as sure as you do you will come away satis- 
fied. Don will take religious care of the nickel you leave w'ith him. We 
have never known of his departing from his legitimate business but once, and 
then he got back as cjuick as he could, and soon had nickels enough to fill that 
little gap and 1 pity the chap that shall undertake to tell him how to get rich 
quick again. 

C. F. Marsh, the grocery man. went into business in the city in 1900. 
He commenced business on the south side of Broadway, next to Davy Rod- 
man's store building, in a place rented of George Granger, lie remained there 
for about four years and then moved to the north side of the street in the 
Deveraux building, where he is now located. He has been actively engaged 
in the business since he first started and has built up a large and prosperous 
trade. He keeps up a good fresh stock and his prices are reasonable. The 
volume of his trade marks the success of the business. 

Ed Ward came here in June. 1880. At the time his father had located 
in Blanchard. Isabella county, but remained there but a short time, coming to 
Mt. Pleasant soon after Ed came. The father. C. A. Ward, commenced busi- 
ness here in 1880. in connection with one Christopher Chrysler. Chrysler 
only remained for a short time anil then turned over his interest to Mr. Ward. 
After that the father, Chester A. \\'ard. joined with William E. Ward, and the 
firm was known as C. A. & W. E. Ward. They continued doing business lor 
a long time and were located on South Main street in what is now the 
McNamara store building. They did a large and lucrative business and were 
at the time considered one of the strongest firms here. They continued their 
trade until the old gentleman died February 13. 1891, and after that W. A. 
continued the business for some time when he sold out the business and lived 
on the money they had accumulated. 

Taylor & Ralliff are comparati\ely a new firm in liie grocery business, 
having established themeshes in the business June 18. 1907, in the present 
place opposite the Bennett house to the east, where they are doing a good and 
safe business. Mr. Ratliff has been here for the past twenty-nine years and 
Taylor was born here and was one of the very first in the county, having 
been born cm the old Charles Taylor farm in Chi])|)c\\a township on the jist 
day of October, 1855. Their citizensliip in Isal>clla county gives them a 
right to expect generous and fair treatment, which they are receiving. 

Fred Stebbins was in the county in 1883, coming from Ithaca and going 
into the Bennett house with Marvin D. Richardson. They remained for a 
time and then he went into the jewelry business and followed that for a time. 



364 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Then he sold out to J. C Freeman, who carried on the business for some time, 
when he sold to Mr. Palmer, who conducted it for a time and then sold to 
Charles E. Hight. The latter conducted the business for about five years and 
then turned it over to Russell & Folen, August i, 1905. Since that time it 
has been largely increased by the adding of several new branches, so that now 
it is one of the best and largest establishments of the kind in this section. 
They carry a large assortment of all kinds of jewelry, diamonds and precious 
stones, cut glass, watches, and fancy clocks. They also keep two men at work 
on repairing, so that it always has a lively and prosperous as well as attractive 
look. They are doing a fine business and are justly entitled to the patronage 
that they enjoy. 

Thomas Lawrence opened up in Mt. Pleasant in the coal and agricultural 
business in 1905 on East Broadway, where he is still carrying on his trade and 
is doing a satisfactory business. He occupies one of the stores of the C. Ben- 
nett estate and is in the very same place where he started. 

Just across the street is the Howard Harkins block, built in 1903. The 
building is a three-story building, the upper story occupied by the Masons, the 
second one by the Pythians, the east portion by the Mt. Pleasant postoffice. 
The west portion is now occupied by Mr. Harkins as a bakery and grocery. 
He commenced in June, 1909, having bought out Veeder and he in turn pur- 
chased the business of James Lynch. He is doing a satisfactory business and 
is well pleased with his outlook for the future. 

O. H. Longcor is located just west of the Harkins block. He has been 
in business there for the past thirteen years, having migrated to this place 
at that date. He has a resaw, small planer and tools for making door and 
window frames, also boxes for the use of the condensed milk factory. It is 
a busy place and he seems to be happy. He built and occupies his own build- 
ing. 

Alfred B. Warwick owns and carries on a harness shop just west of 
Longcor's. He built his building in 1901 and has occupied it since that time. 
He has been in the business in Mt. Pleasant sixteen years in May next, having 
for a time been located on the east side of North Normal avenue, opposite 
the Bennett house. He has had a good business for many years and is ready 
to retire to a good farm just as soon as he finds a man that desires to take 
his place. He has a good location and a good business for some younger 
person to now step into. 

Gray & Lathrop commenced in the drug business in 1909. Lathrop has 
been a citizen of Mt. Pleasant for the past thirty-four years and Gray was a 
clerk for Carr & Granger for about seventeen years before he formed a part- 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 365 

nership with Latlirop and launched out in the drug business. They have a 
large and commodious Inisiness place finishetl in the modem style and method 
and are doing a thriving and successful business. They carry a large stock and 
it is fresh and gives satisfaction to their customers. 

Mitakos & Lianos are comparatively a new concern. They started in 
business of catering to the public in the Barber building, April 20, 1 910. They 
conduct a restaurant, ice cream, candies and soda and are doing a very satis- 
factory business. Their prices are reasonable and very satisfactory, and they 
appear to be entirely satisfied with the patronage they receive. They are 
men of experience and attend strictly to business. 

Roy S. Dean, jeweler, is located in the Opera House block, in a fine and 
commodious store ecpiipped with modern and convenient appliances. He is 
having a fine trade and is in a prosperous condition. He expresses himself 
as well pleased with his trade and outlook. He has a good stock of watches, 
jewelry and all things connected w'ith the business. ' He is an artist in his trade 
and is receiving the patronage that is his due. He opened up his business in 
September, 1907, and has been steadily increasing in popularity as well as in 
his trade. 

Marsh & Graham, dealers in dry goods, carpets and ladies' furnishings, 
have been in business now about eighteen years. They first started in a one- 
room store about twenty by fifty-fi\e feet, but they soon outgrew their quar- 
ters and then added a room at the rear of the first room. They continued 
after that for a time and then again their business outgrew their c|uarters and 
they took on an addition to the west of their first room. In that they con- 
tinued and finally, in 1909, they induced the owners of the building to remodel 
and make it more convenient and attracti\e and they did so and now they 
ha\e one of the most attractive places of business in the city. Tliey carry a 
good line of goods, are fair dealers and are enjoying a lucrative trade. Every 
thing looks prosperous and they seem happy in the fact that they have accom- 
plished \\ bat they set out to do in the commencement of their career as mer- 
chants. 

Theison & Boland started in tiie grocery business some four or fi\e years 
ago and continued until September 10, 1910, when J. J. Theis<-)n purchased the 
interest that Boland had and then continued the business and is still in the 
business, carrying a good stock of goods and having his share of the trade in 
the city. He enjoys the confidence of the ])e<iple as a fair and honest dealer 
and it is giving him a good hold on the people, all of which he is deserving of. 

The firm of Breidenstein & Kane opened in the hardware business in the 
Chatterton building, next west of the Commercial Bank block, in 1904, and 



366 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

they are there still, but are preparing to build them a store opposite their pres- 
ent location next summer. They expect to put up a store twenty-six by one 
hundred and twenty feet, two stories and a basement, which will give 
tlieni ample room for their extended business. Since they first opened they 
have added paints and oils, and also sell doors, sash and glass and have opened 
a furniture and undertaking department. They are very accommodating deal- 
ers and give the people what they desire in the way of good goods and fair 
dealing. Their business has increased from the start and is still on the 
increase, so that they will soon fill the large store they are expecting to erect. 
The store building will be of modern style and finish, with plate glass front 
and in every way up-to-date. Their stock consists also of stoves of all kinds, 
also woven wire fencing, as well as barbed wire for fencing and all kinds of 
general hardware. 

F. A. Schmidt, the tailor, commenced business in 'Sit. Pleasant in 1894 
and has been in the harness ever since. He usually has three nv inur heli)ers 
and is doing a thriving business and giving satisfaction. 

J. L. Anspaugh started a moving picture show in May, 1910, in a build- 
ing of George L. Granger on South Main street, which he fitted up for the 
purpose. He reports that he is having a good attendance and is satisfied with 
the business and its outlook in Mt. Pleasant. He is showing a veiy satisfac- 
tory class of pictures. 

Up until recently there were three moving picture establishments in Mt 
Pleasant, but one sold out a short time ago and was removed from the city. 
There is one still running just east of the Isabella State Bank, owned bv West- 
lake & Trevegno. This has been the leading one for some time and is still 
having a good run and giving good shows. The building has been remodeled 
and presents a fine appearance from the street and walk. These shows seem 
to pick up a good many nickels. Thev are great things to draw the children 
and it is very necessary that the older ones go with them to see how they 
enjoy the show. 

Mrs. R. S. Johnson is one of the older persons in business, having located 
in Mt. Pleasant in the bazaar business November 20, 1883, in the place now 
occupied by the Kane Brothers clothing store. She commenced in the wooden 
l)uil(Iing built l)v the Hennions and conducted her business in that, adding in 
the spring a millinery business. She contiinied for three years and then 
bought the building and carried on her trade there until 1902, then sold her 
building to Kane Brothers and moved her stock of goods to the W'right store 
on South Main street, where McMillan & Son are now. She carried on the 
business there for five years and then moved to her present quarters on the 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 367 

corner of Main and Michigan streets. She sold the bazaar stock to Morrison 
& Dains when she moved to lier present quarters and now has but tlie millinery 
business. She expresses herself as being satisfied with her business at pres- 
ent, but would sell if she had a good opportunity, and take a much needed rest. 

Kate Feeney is another milliner located at the west side of the Bennett 
house on Broadway. She entered the business in 1905 and was then located 
on Xorth Main street, but after a time found the present location and moved 
to that. She is having a nice trade and gives her customers satisfaction, and 
is considered as one of the best in the city. 

Peter Dent, the garage and bicycle repair man. is located on South Main 
street and is doing business in his profession. The city is filling up so fast 
with autos that it requires sc\eral men and firms to keep the machines in order 
Morrison & Dains keep one man all the time at such work. On West Broad- 
way is Beebe. with a shop, and on South Main Mr. Bush has lately opened up 
a place for repairing, painting, storing and educating people how to run and 
how to care for machines and also proposes to house and keep in order anv 
machine you desire to leave in his care. 

John W. Morrison is one of the older members of the mercantile pro- 
fession. He is a New York man, hut came to the West in an early dav. lo- 
cating for a time in Lenawee county and moved to Isabella in 1882. He at 
first located on a farm and afterward, in 1887, entered into the business of 
handling agricultural implement^. He opened up on West Broadwav, where 
Smithers now is, but in a different building. He remained there one year and 
then located at the skating rink corner, where he remained until i€Sg7. when 
he secured his present site on the northeast corner of block 24. corner of 
Normal avenue and Michigan street, where he still remains. He carries all 
kinds of agricultural implements, also woven wire fencing. .-\ny one wanting 
a good article at a fair price call on Uncle John and you will find it and mav 
get it if you have the price or can satisfy him that you are reliable. 

On West Broadway you can find another agricultural implement man. 
Ed Smithers. He can sell you anything you want in that line and sell it to 
you right. He commenced business some years ago and is still there waiting 
on his customers, who are mnny. He carries a full stock, has a good building 
for the business, being built of brick with cement floor. He is there to stav 
and the people want him to as they are satisfied with the treatment thev re- 
ceive and the bargains they can make. 

C. M. Brooks &: Company was one of the very earliest of the agricultural 
implement houses, Mr. Brooks having gone into that business as early as 
1 88 1 -2 with J. W. Hance and .\. B. Upton. They continued in the business 



368 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

until the fall of 1882, when they sold the entire stock to Victor F. Conlogue, 
who continued the business for several years. Conlogue finally sold to Curtis 
& Dougherty, who ran the business for a time and then sold to Ivenson & 
Sampson, they conducting it until they sold to Morrison & Dains. They held 
it a while and sold to Hamilton & Son, who carried it on for a time and then 
resold to Morrison & Dains who in the end closed it out. 

J. W. Hersey is another of our long-standing business men. He came 
to Mt. Pleasant in 1888 and was in several kinds of trades until 1894, when 
he entered into the feed business on North Main street, north of the Donovan 
house, where he remained doing business up to 1894, when he went out of 
that business and went upon the road until 1901. Then he bought a stock of 
agricultural implements and started out on that line. He opened up April 
nth of that year and is still at the old place, which is situated just east of the 
postoffice, in what was originally the brick livery barn of George McDonald. 
He bought and now owns the property. He has added to the original business 
the selling of harness and of automobiles, together with everything else usually 
kept in that kind of an establishment. He is doing a rattling business, is al- 
ways busy and is liked by all his customers and is generally a mighty good all- 
round man. 

Cornelius Bennett built a hotel in 1883 on lot 10, block 13, of the Mt. 
Pleasant plat. It was a fine lirick structure and at the time it was the best 
by far in the city. It was first rented to F. A. Stebbins and Marvin Richardson 
and formally opened by them in the month of June. It was built at a cost of 
about twentv thousand dollars, and lias served its purpose well ever since it 
was built. Messrs. Stebbins and Richardson conducted the laisiness for some 
time and then Stebbins sold his interest to Mollette and after a time the firm of 
Irish & Tones w ent in and they conducted it until Mrs. Day purchased it, about 
twenty-five years ago. She and Mr. Day conducted the hotel for alx)ut twenty 
years, when her health failed Tier and she could no longer stand the labor and 
worry of its attendance, so they finally sold it to George Dillan, who is now 
conducting a first class hotel. There is not so much money in it today as of 
yore, on account of the fact that the county went dry some time ago and no 
bar is kept. It is a good piece of property and is needed in the city, as that 
and the Donovan house are the only two hotels of consequence in the city of 
five thousand inhabitants. 

E. J. Lee & Company are active in the business of gathering butter, eggs 
and poultry and are located on Michigan street, west, where they have been 
for the past three or four years. They are doing a lively business and gather- 
ing in the shekels as well as the chickens and the fruit thereof. 



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ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 369 

F. L. Klutizinger located liere in 1907. having honght out the stock and 
jewelry business of S. W. Rogers, who liad been in the business in Mt. Pleasant 
for the past twenty years, but who took a notion to go West and did so, 
settling in Portland. Oregon, where he now resides. Mr. Klunzinger followed 
in the steps of a good jeweler and took up a line long and favorably known. 
He is doing a very satisfactory business and is having a nice line of customers 
and a splendid repair business. He keeps a full and complete stock and is 
giving good satisfaction to his customers. He also keeps a line of optical arti- 
cles and is doing a fair business in that line. He is located on South Main 
street in the brick owned i)y Thiers & Keeler. 

'I'lic millinery firm of Larson (S: McDonald also carry on their lousiness in 
the same store building. They are good milliners and ha\e been here about 
a year, coming from .\lpena to this place. 

Benjannn (Joldman is just across the street in the Jacob Xeff Iniilding. 
He came from Cadillac, where he had been in business for the past ten years. 
He carries a full line of dry goods, shoes and clothing and is doing a good 
business. He has a full stock to select from and although only here since the 
loth day of October. 1910. he has established a satisfactory trade and is well 
satislicil. He has made no mistake in his selection of a place and location for 
business. 

.\. D. Butterheld is engaged in tlie tailoring business and is located in the 
building so long occupied by Hon. S. W. Hopkins on East Michigan street. 
He came here from Gladstone, Michigan, in April. 1910. He is having his 
share of the trade and expresses himself as satisfied with his prospects and 
business. 

Tiie ne.xt door east of him is located the steam laundry now owned and 
operated by L. Holman, win; bought out Emmett Cole in January, 1910. This 
is the same laundry that Clement owned, having bought it of Kinch. Holman 
is doing a nice business, having a good trade and is well satisfied. His busi- 
ness has grown so that it requires as many as four to six emi)loyees to handle 
the trade. 

Kennedy brothers commenced in Mt. Plea.sant about 1891 in the draying 
business and continued in that for some time ; then they engaged in the feed 
business and afterward added coal to their list of trade. On Octol)er 15, 
1901. they mo\ed to the store building just north of the Fancher block, where 
they remained until November. 1907, when they purchased the building and 
lot where they are now' located on North Main street. They have a very 
commodious store and barn building, where they keep all kinds of feed and 
hay. also cement, lime, brick and tile, with a full supply of coal and coke of 
(24) 



370 ISABELLA COUNTY^ MICHIGAN. 

all kinds. They are doing an extensive business and are giving satisfaction. 
Thev are now located on a paved street, which gives their business a city air 
and better conveniences for handling their coal, feed and other commodities 
kept in their business. 

Mrs. Munro is located just south of the Kenned)' Brothers' place of busi- 
ness. She came with her husband to Mt. Pleasant in 1881 and commenced 
business at the stand she now occupies as a boarding and rooming house. At 
that time her husband was with her, but he fell sick and in November of that 
year he died and she has continued the business ever since. She has been a 
hard worker and prudent manager and has received, as she deserved, the con- 
fidence and support of the people and has saved a nice sum for a rainy day 
should it overtake her. She is surely deserving of a great deal of credit and 
all of the success in business that she has acquired. 

Mrs. William O'Brion is another deserving of remembrance on account 
of her faithfulness and fidelity. She and her husband came to Mt. Pleasant 
twenty-two years ago and started in the grocery business. They were carry- 
ing on a good business up to 1901, when the husband sickened and died, leav- 
ing her with quite a family of small children to care for and the business to 
conduct. She has struggled along until now the children are some of them at 
least large enough to be of help to her and together they are still carrying on 
the store, adding to the business feed, hay and draying. She boasts of a plate 
glass front in her store building and is prospering to a very satisfactory degree 
and no longer fears the wolf or dire distress. 

Patrick Leahy also came to Mt. Pleasant some years ago and, with Dono- 
hue, ct)mmenced the business of grocerymen. They continued for a time and 
then Donohue went out of the firm. Then Leahy bought out Tim Battles and 
moved into the store north of the Fancher lilock. He remained in that loca- 
tion until 1907, when he moved across the street to where Bringard is now 
locating, remaining there for about one year, and then bought the building 
and lot where he now is, remodeled that and moved in about April, 1908, and 
is still there. He has recently been confined to groceries, but is now preparing 
to increase the business and to add feed and hay. Pat is attentive to business 
and now has his son William with him and together they are doing a prosper- 
ous and satisfactory business. 

H. H. Hunter, on December i, 1897, opened up a bazaar store on South 
Main street, on the west side, in the O'Horo store building. He carried a full 
line of common bazaar supplies and continued the business up to February, 
1908, when he sold to R. C. Damman, who had been in the superintendency of 
a bazaar stock in Ithaca, Michigan. He has continued the business and is now 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 37I 

doinsf a good and thriving trade, is well patronized and is having his share of 
the patronage of the city in tl'at line of goods. 

McMillan & Son are in the coal and feed business on Soutli Main street. 
They started in business about 1904 and were then located in tlie Nelson office 
building. .\t that time it was a coal business, but after a time, in 1907, they 
added feed to the business and continued in that until 1909, when they added 
groceries and are now located with their store and office on the east side of 
South Main street in the building ne.xt south of the Ryan store building. They 
are square dealers and are doing a large business, especially in coal. 

There are se\cral persons that are in the business of manufacturing and 
selling cigars. D. Trevegno, who has been in it for the past twelve years; 
George Dillon, about four years; C. C. Allen, who has been in the business 
about ten years, and Frank Bringard, who has run a factory but alwut one 
year. They are all doing considerable business and some of them employing 
several hands in the work. They supply the city largely and do quite a job- 
bing trade with the outside cities and villages. 

When the county was new and but few settlers in the city, Cicero Kim- 
ball came from western New York and about 1869 he commenced in the 
butcher and meat market business. In the fall of 1869 he bought a lot on East 
Broadway and put up a good store building and shop, twenty-two by forty feet, 
and two stories high and com])leted it in a good style and finish and then opened 
his meat market, which he continued until the fire of 1875, which destroyed 
his building with the others on that street. lie had no insurance, so that it 
was a total loss. In 1877 he and his brother Adell^ert started in the same lousi- 
ness and followed it for a long time. 

This has been a lively town for men of the blacksmith and wagonmaking 
trade. In the early days of the county, while the lumbering operations were 
being carried on, there was great demand for the kind of iron work that went 
with that business, and then the roads were of such a character that much 
repairing had to be done to such vehicles as were then in use. If you should 
step into a shop at that time you would see it lined with log chains, pevies, 
pikes, cant hooks, horse shoes. cle\ises and such other articles as were in con- 
stant u.se. In the early sixties not a buggy could be found in the county and 
but few double wagons. New scarcely a farmer is without his buggy. Then 
there were but few horses, even on the farms, but now the oxen are no more to 
be found on the fann. Occasionally one drives into town with an ox team, 
but at the time aforementioned they all drove o.xen on the road, to mill and to 
meeting. I presume some of our ladies that are sporting their automobiles 
would feel queer to step into a lumber sleigh drawn by a sleek yoke of oxen and 



372 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

proceed to make her social calls, but such was the style at one time in this neck 
of the woods. 

Milton Bradley was the first blacksmith to locate in Alt. Pleasant, his shop 
being east of the court house square. He only followed the business for a 
short time. 

Thomas Turnbull came here in 1866 and opened up a shop and continued 
in the business until 1874, when he went to Dushville in the hotel business. 
Afterward, about 1888. he went into partnership in the blacksmithing business 
with George Osborn. which continued for about three years and then quit the 
business. 

Peter Gardner found Mt. Pleasant October 14. 186S, and liked it so well 
that he is still here. He first located on the south side of Broadway on the 
spot where D. Rodman's store is now located, remained there a year and then 
Went onto South Main street about where the .\nspaugh picture show is. He 
remained there until 1876, when he bought the lot he is now located upon, Iniilt 
a shop, moved his forge and tools into it and has been there ever since. 
Mr. Gardner has been a long time in the business and from the amount 
of hard work he has done it would seem that he should l>e granted a rest. He 
is a good workman, very accommodating and, withal, a genial neighbor. 

Lew Maxwell is another old timer in the business. As a boy he worked 
at the trade in Mt. Pleasant in the early seventies. He worked for Peter 
Gardner in 1871 and in 1876 he built the shop on Washington street, where he 
is now located in his blacksmithing business. He, too, is a good workman and 
generally finds plenty to do. He is well liked, which is proven by the fact that 
he has remained so long in tliat calling. 

Renwick & Westervelt came here on Jul}- 14, 1875, and started in the 
business of blacksmithing and wagonmaking. They liought a lot and built 
the shop which is still standing and is the place where Mr. Renwick is still 
carrying on the business. After they had been in business about five years 
Westervelt went out and for alx)ut a year Mr. Renwick run the business alone 
and then he took in William Hovey and they were together for about ten years 
and then' Mr. Hovey went out and since that Mr. Renwick has conducted the 
business alone. Mr. Renwick is a good workman, thoroughly capable and 
honest and, withal, is a good citizen. He has done an immense amount of 
good work and is entitled to the esteem and friendship of the community which 
he has. 

There is also a blacksmith shop on the corner of Michigan and \\'ashing- 
ton streets, now conducted by Mr. Barnes, who lately bought and took posses- 
sion. He bought of Joseph A. Meyers, who operated it for some time. It 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 373 

was at one time the headquarters of William Manners. There have Ijeen 
others, for instance Pat Stapleton and one I'atrick Sullivan; also Peter Haw- 
ley, who had a shop in the north part of town. There is also Uncle David 
Lett, now on North Main street, who has heen there for a long time and is one 
of the hest of workmen in that line: in fact, he is in .some things a sort of a 
genius. 

There is also one situated on the north side of Michigan street, between 
Main and Normal avenue, conducted by I-'rank Drew, who bought out Robert 
Richie one year ago last T'"el)ruai-y. And also one owned by William McDon- 
ald, located east of the Bennett house. He has been there some three years 
is having a good run of business and is prospering. 

CITY OFFICI.\L ROSTER. 

Mt. Pleasant was first platted in 1863 b\- David Ward, who was then 
owner of the lands, hut this plat was not recorded and in the spring of 1863 
he sold the property, except ? few lots that he had sold before to the Indians, 
to H. A. Dunton and Joseph Miser and to Harvey and Cieorge Morton of the 
state of New York. Harxey Morton came on with his family and took 
possession of the property and immediately commenced to build a hotel on 
the lots on which now stands tlie Donovan house. 

When the writer of this article came to Mt. Pleasant, in the latter part 
of June, 1863, he found the old court house, built by Ward, on the location of 
the county seat at Mt. Pleasant; the house now standing on lot 10, block 7, 
just across from the northwest corner of the court house square, and a dwell- 
ing where the Fancher block now stands, built by Josepli Miser. 

The present plat was drawn and recorded in February, 1864. The plat 
remained in that condition and was still a portion of the township of Union 
and was assessed and taxes collected the same as in the township until 1875, 
wlicn. ])y act of the Legislature, it was organized into a village. The first 
election after the incorporation was held on May 1 1, 1875, and resulted in the 
election of John Maxwell as president of the village and as trustees there were 
elected Cornelius Bennett, William Richmond. John .\. Harris, Wilkinson 
Doughty, Daniel H. Gilman and George W. Brower; as clerk, George N. 
Mosher; assessor. L E. Arnold; street commissioner. John Fox; marshal, 
Cicero Kimball. 

John Maxwell held the office for two terms, when Dan. H. Gilman was 
elected and held it two years, then John C. Leaton was elected and held it for 
one year. Then T. F. .\rnold for one year. Charles T. Russell for one vear. 



374 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

John A. Harris for one year. Then George L. Granger was elected in the 
spring of 1883 for one year, Robert Laughlin for one year, Thomas J. Fordyce 
one year, D. H. Nelson for one year, John Kane one year, John Kinney for one 
year and Warner Churchill for one year, 1889. 

In 1889 the village was organized into a city, under the laws of 1873 ap- 
plying to the government of cities and the reorganization of villages into cities, 
providing they have a population of three thousand or more. 

At the first election there were elected the usual officers, as follows : Lewis 
E. Royal as mayor, with L. D. Newton, J. H. Doughty, C. Kimball, D. Rod- 
man, William Bamber and D. G. Robinson as alderman. On April 15, 1890, 
M. Deveraux was elected mayor, with aldermen as follows : John Richmond, 
William H. Manners and Tobias Hornung, as new ones, and Rodman. Kim- 
ball and Bamber holding over. The next year Deveraux was re-elected as 
mayor and Peter Gardner, P. J. Stapleton and Phil Garvey as the new alder- 
man. In 1892, E. D. Wheaton was elected as mayor. In 1893 it was C. 
Bennett; in 1894, Tobias Bergy; in 1895, I. A. Fancher; 1896, M. Deveraux, 
and again in 1897; in 1898. C. M. Brooks and he was re-elected the next year. 

At this juncture the people decided to become a city of the fourth class 
and accordingly reorganized as such under the laws of 1895 and amendments 
thereto. Under the new arrangement Levi Schaffer Avas elected mayor in 
1900 and again in 1901 ; he was followed by A. N. Ward in 1902, and he by 
H. Edward Deuell for three successive years, when he was followed in 1906 
by H. A. Miller and he by M. Deveraux ; he by Walter L. Snider and he by 
H. E. Deuel for two terms and he, in 191 1, by Fred Russell, just elected at 
this April election. 

The present aldermen are : First ward. F. A. Sweeny and Elmer Walsh ; 
second ward, James W. Hersey and E. W. Crandall ; third ward. George 
Powers and W'. E. Ratliff, with Horace H. Hunter as clerk, E. E. Palmer, 
treasurer, and C. E. Russell and W'illiam Starkweather as justices of the peace. 

IMPROVEMENTS. 

The city has made many and valuable improvements since the first organ- 
ization as a village in 1875. At that time we had no public water system, no 
sewers and but a small number of sidewalks and they of lumber. Our fire 
department was very inferior and our streets were very sandy. A water 
■works system was inaugurated about 1882 and two wells were dug on the east 
side of the Chippewa river, just south of the Ann Arbor depot, and a pumping 
station was installed near by and water mains laid from the pump house south 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 3/5 

to Michigan street and thence east to the main portion of the city and from 
tlience in various directions so as to accommodate tlie most of our citizens. 
The largest of the pipes was at that time eight inches in diameter and a large 
portion of them were of logs made at Bay City, Michigan. The first bonded 
indebtedness for water purposes was ten thousand dollars issued about July 
15, 1882, payable in ten years, drawing five and one-half per cent, interest. 
The resolution providing for the issue of these bonds was passed I)y tlie com- 
mon council in due form and a vote of the electors authorized lo Ijc lield, 
which vote was taken and the bonding authorized, and the council met and rati- 
fied the action and authorized the execution of the bonds, whicii was done. 
The avails of these bonds were used for the purpose of digging a public well 
and in.stalling a pumping outfit just north of the Harris mill. The lx)nds have 
been refunded two or three times, but are all paid except one bond of one 
thousand dollars. 

During the said year of 1884 tlie \illage commencetl the matter of sewer- 
ing and a contract was let to one McSloy to build a sewer to commence at the 
Bennett h<uise or Court street and to run west to the center of Washington 
street and there to turn nortii and run to tiie river. The tola! price of said 
sewer, catch basins and manholes was to be one thousand six hundred forty- 
five dollars and eight cents. But for some reason it cost a good deal more 
money and. while there was a sewer district formed, the village finally paid for 
the work. The sewer was very ])oorly built and was never of much Ijcnefit 
to the district nor to the city. Recently it was taken u]) and a sewer put in. 
conducting the water in a different direction, east into the main or trunk line 
sewer: and more recently the city has made a drainage sewer to run into the 
north end of the old sewer to the river. 

There were also four thousand dollars of bonds issued Iw the townshi[) of 
Union, called public improvement bonds, about June 3, 1885, drawing interest 
at five and three-eighths per cent, which were refunded October 21, 1902. The 
city of Mt. Pleasant afterward assumed the obligation. 

WATER SUPPLY. 

The iTiatter of water supply for the inhal)itants has been for a long time 
a ve.xatious question as at no time has the sup|)ly been sufficient for all purposes 
and at all times in the year. They built first two wells and reservoirs that were 
supposed to be of sufticient capacity for all purposes, they going down to the 
water gravel or nearly so and the water flowing freely up into the reservoir. 
One of the pipes they sunk to a depth of three Inindred and fifty feet and there 



376 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

ettcountered brackish water, so that pipe was plugged instead of having an 
elbow put upon it, and the water allowed to flow into the tail race that the peo- 
ple might ascertain what it was composed of. After some time the wells 
seemed to fail or cease to supply sufficient water for all purposes and then it 
was suggested to put down some wells on the west side of the river, so several 
wells were put down over there ; these wells were flowing ones when the sand 
was kept from stopping the flow. These were down only about twenty-five 
feet until they struck the water, sand and gravel. In all, they put down about 
a dozen of these wells and some experts that were imported for the pur}X)se of 
giving expert information assured the good people that when they got down 
to this strata there would be an ample supply. But each time something came 
in to dampen the ardor of the citizens and it was not good, pure water eitlier. 
Then it dawned upon some one that if the city would make a monstrous reser- 
voir, say about one hundred feet long and about fifty feet wide and eighteen 
or twenty feet deep and cement the sides and a part at least of the bottom and 
dig a well in the east end of that, say about twelve feet in diameter, and put 
some wells in the bottom of the main reservoir and pipe that to the pump 
house we would all be happj-. 

Well, they all nibbled at that bit of bait and as the old Dean pump had 
been in use for a good many years and was supposed by some to be out of date, 
and at one time, when the city had a very destructive fire, it gave out for a 
time, it was decided that they bond the city again for money enough to build 
the great reservoir, put in the wells as described, build a new and up-to-date 
pumping station, pipe the water from the reservoir to the pump house, lay a 
few more rods of large water main, connect these with the old water mains 
and then be happy indeed. 

The proposition was to again bond the city and this time for twenty 
thousand dollars. The council passed the requisite resolutions, the people 
voted yes and the bonds were issued on the ist day of March, 1907. to draw 
four per cent, and one bond of one thousand dollars to be paid each year. 
The plans and specifications were made, submitted and adopted and the work 
commenced. The great reser\oir was built, the water wells put down, the 
water piped to the new well house on the east side of the river, a new Dean 
pump put in and every one then supposed that the water supply was inexhaust- 
ible. Some of the good people, acting upon that theory, promised to supplv 
the milk condensory with a large supply of cool water to be used for cooling 
their milk. This extra drain on the supply was too much, so that the company 
vvere obliged to sink some wells of their own and, as good luck would have it. 
they were successful in finding a fair supply. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 377 

Our water works are put upon the direct pressure plan — that is, the pump 
to run continuously and thus hold an equal pressure at all times except in case 
of fire. What some think, is that we should have an elevated water tank to be 
kept full of water and have i! so arranged tliat at the hours of sprinkling that 
water could be utilized and relieve the pump and some feel that it should be 
large enough so that it could be used to relieve the constant use of the pump. 
These propositions are still m embryo and the city fathers have been looking 
about for a greater water supply, so the good people are waiting and paying 
their sprinkling bills with a wry face and grinning when it is done. 

The next original bonds to be issued was five thousand dollars issued 
September i, 1884, ^^^ in five years and these were issued for water works. 
They became due July 15, 1892, and were then with the ten thousand dollars 
issued in 1882. refunded by an issue of fifteen thousand dollars and are called 
refunding writer works bonds. Just where the otiier ti\ e tiiousand came from, 
the resolution does not explain, but it must have been tiie five thousand dollars 
of 1884. These ran the fifteen years and were again refunded July 15. 1907. 
to run ten years. May 21, iQOO, there was issued ten thousand dollars, water 
extension bonds. Another water improvement bond of twenty thousand dol- 
lars was authorized by a vote of the electors of the city on the 24th dav of 
September, 1906. the vote standing three hundred thirty-four ves to fortv- 
seven no. The bonds were issued on tlie ist day of March. 1907, there being 
twenty Imnds of one thousand dollars each and failing due one bond each vear, 
said bonds to draw interest at four pev cent, semi-annually, and payable at the 
People's State Bank in Detroit. Michigan. 

In 1 90 1 the city decided to build some sewers for tiie piu-pose of pro\id- 
ing a sanitary outlet for the sewage of the city. Plans and specifications 
were provided and the city was bonded for ten thousand dollars, for general 
sewer purposes. The bonds were authorized and issued on May r, 1901. the 
bonds to run for twentv- years. 

The inoney from the sale of these bonds was to be used to build a main 
or trunk line sewer, the outlet to be in the Chijipewa river just Ik^Iow the Brad- 
ley bridge and to run thence east and then south to Miciiigan street, with a 
branch both east and west on Michigan. Other sewers were afterward built 
as laterals to the main sewer and were built by special assessment, according to 
the sewer district, until now we have an estimated amount of alx)ut seven and 
one-half miles of sewers, ranging from six to sixteen inches in diameter. 

It is to be noted that the original sewer was built as a sanitary and not as 
a drainage sewer, but as soon as the sewer was started the council authorized 
the putting in of catch basins, which were intended to receive the surface water 



378 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

of that part of the city traversed by the sewers and the effect has been that the 
water gathered has at times overtaxed the capacity of the sewer and some have 
had the sad experience of having their cellars inundated with sewage, to their 
great annoyance. 

SIDEWALKS. 

As early as about 1900 the lumber in the county Ijegan to be scarce and of 
an inferior quality for use for sidewalks and the people determined to utilize 
some more substantial material. They commenced tiie use of Portland cement 
and found it to meet the requirements and so the scheme was inaugurated to 
have the city build the walks out of cement and the property owner to pay 
a certain price per square foot or square yard and the city do the work and 
furnish all of the material. For the purpose of expediting the work and not 
distress the lot owner. Ixinds to the amount of eight thousand dollars was 
authorized by a vote of the people and the bonds were issued, sold and the 
money placed in a sidewalk fund. It proved to lie a great impetus toward 
building sidewalks so that at the [^resent time they ha\'e probably more and 
better sidewalks in Mt. Pleasant than an}- other city of its size in Michigan. 
There are substantially twenty miles of first-class cement sidewalks and cross 
walks and altogether the city is now very well sup])lied for walks on all of 
the main streets. 

PUBLIC PARKS. 

Something like thirty years ago the people of Mt. Pleasant thought that 
they should be provided with a public park and after looking over the sur- 
rounding country they discovered that there was a piece of land lying adjacent 
to the Chippewa river and on the west side thereof and just opposite the Ann 
Arbor station that could be purchased for a thousand dollars, the seller donat- 
ing the sum of one hundred dollars, provided that it should bear his name and 
provided further that in case it ceased to be used for a public park the title 
should revert to him. 

With these slight conditions, the land was purchased and named Nelson 
park. The land still remains there as a monument of the forethought and 
good judgment of the purchasers. It has some beautiful native trees which 
are thrifty and on which the foliage in summer is always green and with the 
gravel drive and walk through the park to the cemetery it makes rather a de- 
lightful and interesting place to while away an hour or so when the sun is hot 
and one needs rest and something to detract his thoughts from the common 
things of life. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 379 

As time advanced and the city enlarged to the point of five thousand in- 
habitants, there was a feehng among tlie people that they should make pro- 
vision for a public park that could be used for the purposes for w Iiicli parks are 
generally used, so they looked aljout and found what they thought would an- 
swer their purpose and they submitted a proposition to the people as to the 
matter of the purchase of the same. Being submitted, it was carried by 
more than a two-thirds majority antl bonds to the amount of five thousand 
dollars were issued and delivered to the owners for the grounds, including the 
iron bridge and right of way to the street. The grounds were composed of 
alxuit thirty-seven and one-half acres of bottom lands in the valley of the 
Chippewa river and including the grove of native timber. The city immedi- 
ately commenced and during the fall of 1909 completed a ditch or canal on the 
west side of the purchase and built a dam so as to create slack water for boating 
privileges. It is an ideal place and can hardly be duplicated in the state for a 
natural park. It lies within the city limits and within thirty rods of the center 
of section 15, which is the center of the city, so that a walk of five minutes 
carries you upon the ground? of the park. When properly laid out by a land- 
scape gardener and developed, no finer spot can be found for a park. It has 
not only water for boating, but it also bas a flowing well with waters of a 
medicinal quality, being pure and very palatable. 

The city at this time has about twelve miles of water mains ranging from 
four inches to twelve inches in diameter. This gives domestic and fire facili- 
ties to nearly all of the inhabitants in the city. 

MUNICIPAL I.NTJEnTEDNESS. 

The bonded indebtedness still outstanding is as follows: Two $1,000.00 
public improvement bonds; $15,000 water refunding bonds; $5,000 water ex- 
tension bonds ; $10,000 main or trunk line sewer bonds ; $5,000 cement sidewalk 
lx)nds: $3,361 bonds for purchase of lands for addition to normal school; 
$16,000 water improvement bonds, and $4,500 park lx)nds. being a total 
bonded indebtedness of $60,861. on an assessed valuation of ai)out $i,ooo,cx50 
for tlie cit\-. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



ARWIN E. GORHAM. 

A potent factor in the Inisiness life of Isabella county for many years 
has been Arwin E. Gorhani, who holds a high place as one of the progressixe 
manufacturers of the Wolverine state, being president of the Gorham Broth- 
ers Company, a large and widely knuwn concern, and president of the Ex- 
change Savings Bank, both located in Mt. Pleasant. 

Mr. (jorham is the representative of a sturdy old pioneer family of the 
Buckeye state, having Ijeen Ijorn at Euclid, July lO, 1868. There he spent 
his boyhood days, attending the district schools until he was fourteen years 
old, then went to East Cleveland to attend a private school. He began life 
for himself as a basket manufacturer, first, however, working by the day. 
When the manufacturing concern transferred its interests to Mt. Pleasant, 
Michigan, he moved to this city, in Feliruary. 1888, and has since been identi- 
fied with the firm; in fact, since he was fourteen years of age he has been 
in the service of the company which was started by his father and uncle, so 
that he became familiar with every detail of their large business interests, 
and for many years had complete charge of their entire clerical business, as 
well as considerable responsibility along other lines of their transactions. 
This firm enjoyed a large trade here from the first and in due course of time 
became the leading manufacturers in this section of the state. This concern 
started in business in Isabella county with a small mill, forty-two by sixty 
feet, two stories. Under judicious management their business grew rapidly 
and continuously until it became necessarj' for additions to be made annually 
to the plant, and this growth has continued to the present time until now 
large and commodious quarters are occupied, which are equipped witli the 
latest designed macliincrv and only the most skilled artisans are employed, 
there being about two hundred on the payroll all tiie year round, being one of 
the largest employers of labor in this part of the state, having started with less 
than a dozen employes. From an infant industry, newly established, and 
making every effort to secure a foothold among the older manufacturing 
concerns of the country, this enterprise has grown to be one of the largest in 



382 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Michigan, and today the Gorham Brothers Company is among the largest 
and most extensive manufacturers of veneered panels in the world. 

The business of this fimi was first started at Euclid, Ohio, being con- 
ducted there until the supply of available timber became very scarce, which 
fact induced its removal to the city of Mt. Pleasant. Its business had by 
that time grown to considerable proportions, yet since it has been conducted 
from this point it has continued to advance in a very remarkable manner. 
This firm is also extensively interested in lumbering operations in other sec- 
tions of the state. One of the largest stocks of lumber of various kinds is 
to be found in the large yards of this company in central or southern Michi- 
gan. The company does a very extensive retail business, and it has suc- 
ceeded in building up a reputation for the production of first class goods in 
all of the articles manufactured by it, and the fact that it is able to place these 
goods on the market at prices advantageous to the buyer has enabled it to 
firnilv establish itself as one of the most successful manufacturing concerns in 
the southern part of the state, if not the entire state. The building of an 
enterprise of this class and magnitude is not an every-day affair, and the 
success of this company is not due to luck, but to good management, coupled 
with careful consideration of the conditions and demands of the trade which 
it hoped to supply; the production of articles which would give entire satis- 
faction to the users and which might he placed on the market at prices which 
fully met all competition. It is the successful combination of these condi- 
tions which has brought success, and for results the members of the firm are 
entitled to full credit. 

The operations of the Gorham Brothers Company are one of the many 
things to which the citizens of Mt. Pleasant point with pride, partly because 
of what the firm has been able to accomplish for itself and the standing it has 
gained in the commercial world, and partly because its success has been the 
largest individual element in the building up and advancement of this city, 
by the steady and profitable employment of large numbers of laboring men 
and mechanics at good wages, theirs at all times having been the largest pay- 
roll within this city. A wide and secure prestige is enjoyed by this firm in 
the production of first-class goods that are eagerly sought after. In all the 
articles here produced an effort is made to secure high-grade quality, hence 
their success and envied standing in the industrial world, which has been due 
in no small measure to the able management, good judgment and wise counsel 
of Arwin E. Gorham, who has also made his influence felt in other lines of 
business here, having been one of the original organizers of the Exchange 
Savings Bank, of which he was elected president in 1905, having been one of 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 383 

the directors of the same since its organization, and has continued in this 
capacity to the present time, managing its affairs in a manner that has re- 
flected much credit upon his abihty as a financier, an organizer and [)romoter, 
and to tiie entire satisfaction of the other stockholders and patrons of the 
bank. 



HON. SAMUEL WHALEY HOPKINS. 

In every hfe of honor imd usefuhiess there is no dearth of incident, and 
yet in summing u]) the career of any man the writer needs touch only those 
salient points which gi\e the keynote to his character. Thus in setting forth 
the life record of Hon. Samuel Whaley Hopkins sufficient will be said to 
show, what all who kno\\- him will freely acquiesce in, that he is one of the 
enterprising and progressive citizens of Isabella county, being one of the lead- 
ing attorneys and business men of Mt. Pleasant. Michigan, and one of the 
public-spirited and representative men of the great Wolverine state. 

Mr. Hopkins is the son of Samuel and Freelove P>uriingame (Arnold) 
Hopkins. Tlie father was lx)rn in Coventry, Rhode Island. January' lo. 1803, 
the son of Rufus and Amy ( Shippee) Flopkins. Rufus Hopkins was the son 
of Esquire Samuel Hopkins, who was the son of Joseph Hopkins. Tradi- 
tion says that the last named married a daughter of Edward W'iialley, one of 
the regicide judges who fled from England upon the restoration of Charles II, 
and according to tradition. Judge Whalley lived in West Greenwich, Rhode 
Island, and is buried upon Hopkins hill in that township. Mr. Hopkins says 
that w hen a Iioy he visited the hill and was shown the grave of Judge Whalley. 
It is from this ancestor that Mr. Hopkins takes his middle name, spelling it 
with but one "1." Most of the Hopkins family have been engriged in the 
great industry of Rhode Island cotton manufacturing. Sanniel Hopkins, 
father of tiie immediate subject of this sketch. li\e<l in the towns of Coventry. 
West Greenwich and Exeter. Rhode Island, until 1856 and was extensively 
engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods. He built several mills and was 
a prominent man in his section of the country. The great financial panic of 
1856 and 1857, which engulfed so many thousands in the vorte.x of financial 
ruin and affected to some extent every business man in the United States, was 
the end of his active business career. He had been a very active, energetic 
mail, of sanguine disposition and buoyant spirits, but this failure seemed to 
break his strength of purpose. With the remnant of his fortune he bought a 
farm of seventy acres of land in Coventry. Connecticut, where he lived a 



384 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

retired life until his death, February 19, 1875. His family included nine 
children, seven sons and two daughters ; seven of the nine lived to reach ma- 
turity. 

Mrs. Sally (Gorton) Arnold, Mr. Hopkins' maternal grandmother, was 
the daughter of William and Sallie (Whitford) Gorton. William Gorton 
was the son of Dr. Samuel Gorton, whose father was Samuel Gorton. (So 
the name Samuel is a double family name.) This ancestor came from Eng- 
land to Massachusetts and was called a heretic by the Puritans, who drove him 
from their colony. He bought a home of the Indians in Rhode Island and 
named it "Patuxet." He lived to be a centenarian. 

Both the paternal and maternal ancestors of the subject are of pure 
English stock, as the Hopkinses and Arnolds are of the long line of Xew 
England descent, and tradition says that three Hopkins brothers, bearing the 
name of Rufus, Mark and Samuel, were among the "Mayflower" crowd that 
landed on Plymouth Rock. Whether this tradition is true or not, Mr. Hop- 
kins cannot say, but certain it is that from time immemorial and in all posi- 
tions of life, from the great college president, Mark Hopkins, whose forty 
years broke the world's record, to Sam, the cow-boy, and in all sections of 
our land, from Maine's British border to California's golden gate, the names 
of Rufus. Mark and Samuel have been very familiar in the Hopkins family. 
The subject's father, his great-grandfather, his great-great-grandfather on 
his paternal side; his great-grandfather and his great-great-grandfather on 
the maternal side of the house were named Samuel, therefore his baptismal 
name was familiar in the famil\- records long before his birth, and his mother, 
being a Roger Williams Baptist, never deemed it necessary that any of her 
children should be baptized, so his name is baptized only in histor}' and deeds. 
The name of Arnold, too, is as frequent in Xew England and national histor}'' 
perhaps as is the name of Hopkins. The eldest brother of Mr. Hopkins was 
named Rufus : another brother was named Arnold and his son being named 
Samuel, the family kept up the record well. Stephen Hopkins, who defied 
the king and with a strong will wrote with a trembling hand his name to the 
Declaration of Independence, was an ancestor of the subject. 

Freelove Burlingame (Arnold) Hopkins, mother of the subject of this 
sketch, was born in Warwick, Rhode Island, January 15, 1807, the daughter 
of Elijah and Sally (Gorton) Arnold, whose family consisted of three sons 
and one daughter. Elijah Arnold was the seventeenth child of James and 
Freelove (Burlingame) Arnold, and James Arnold was a son of Thomas 
Arnold, who bought a mile square of land in Warwick. Rhode Islnnd. and 
divided it into six farms. At that early day in Rhode Island that amount of 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 385 

land for one man to own was regarded as remarkable. The mother of the 
subject was born on the middle one of these farms on the Coweset road. The 
purchase of Thomas Arnold was known as "Arnold's Square. " The mother 
of the subject was called to her rest at Coventry, Connecticut. February' 14, 
1888. Slie is remembered as a woman of many praiseworthy cliaracteristics 
and, like her husband, was popular with a host of warm friends. 

Samuel Whaley Hopkins, of this review, was born in Exeter. Rhode 
Island .\])ril i. 1845. ^'^ ^'^^^ t^^ youngest of a family of nine children. 
His father was also the youngest of a large family of children; so Mr. Hop- 
kins has always l^en way down toward the foot of the family class for age 
and associates. He was gi\en the name of Samuel, and his father's name 
being the same, his name was written in the old family Bible, "Samuel Hop- 
kins. Jun.." after the fashion of the times. When arriving at mature age he. 
after consulting his parents, wrote in the name Whaley for his middle name, 
thus obviating the necessity of always writing the "Jun. " to designate liim from 
his father. He never saw either grandparent on the paternal side, as they 
had l)otli passed to the great beyond before his birth. Book learning came 
easily, in fact, he was a precocious child ; at the age of three he knew the two 
l)ooks he possessed well by heart; they were Young's "First Reader." a book 
of stories for children, and Webster's ".Spelling Book." in which he was able 
to spell and jirunounce. without assistance, words of two and three .syllables. 
His school opportunities up to the age of eleven were limited. He having been 
frail and unaliic to walk far. and no school near his home, he studied mostly 
at his mother's knee, some six months constituting all his schooling. In 1856 
the familv mo\ed to Coventry, Connecticut, and here the la<l, who grew 
stronger, began to face the stern realities of life. Witli an invalid mother, 
two invalid sisters and a father broken both in healtii and hopes, the work of 
a man fell upon his shoulders and he made a full hand in the work on the 
farm. l)eing able, when fourteen years of age. to swing the scxthe and carry 
a full swath w itli stronger and older mowers. .\t the age of elexcn he could 
read, write, spell anfl repeat most of the multiplication table: then it was that 
he got down to business and with a sixteen weeks' winter school for two and 
a half winters and the same for two summers, supplemented with private in- 
struction, given by an experienced teacher. Mary K. Hutchinson, and one 
term of .select schooling, he was ready, at the age of fifteen, for the school- 
room as teacher. He secured a school. Init the trustees, learning his age. re- 
fused to permit him to proceed with the work, although he was successful in 
the required examination : however, at the age of seventeen he began teaching 
and devoted six vears to the work, three in Connecticut, at Andover. Mansfield 
(25) 



386 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

and Willimantic, also Coventry, putting in a select term at Andover and so 
doing without any vacation for the year. He taught three years at Little 
Falls. New Jersey. He got in a term at Ellington Academy as a student and 
a term also at the Manchester Academy. After the finish of the school year 
he would return to the home farm and put in the summers assisting with the 
farm work, also worked at selling books on subscription, and he went to 
Charleston, South Carolina, selling merchandise for a brother. Later he 
came to Cleveland, Ohio, and entered the Bryant & Stratton Business College, 
which was succeeded by the Felton & Bigelow College, from which he was 
graduated in the spring of 1865. After the age of twelve years he cared 
mostly for himself in a pecuniary way and also helped care for others. Many 
nights after a hard day's work on the farm has he lain studying liy a tallow 
candle, and. falling to sleep, would awake in the morning to find the candle 
burned to a stub, and, arising, repeat the pre\'ious day's program — work all 
day and study practically all night. It was common to find him at two o'clock 
in the morning at his book. In the fall season he was on the road with a 
team, sometimes witli two pairs of o.xen, taking wood to Rockville. sometimes 
with horses, driving all night, taking alder wood to Hazardville to sell, it 
being used for making powder. It was his ambitiun to enter and graduate 
from Harvard, but the sickness in the famil\' and the struggle necessary to 
care for the ones in need forbade. He obtained an academic education, served 
his time as an instructor, and in the summer of 1870 liegan reading law with 
Benezeret H. Bill, of Rockville. walking six miles and return three times a 
week to recite: these trips of twelve miles a day on foot over mountainous 
roads were no doubt conducive to developing him physically. In the fall of 
1870 he entered the law department of the University of Michigan, and was 
graduated therefrom in 1872, devoting the months of the summer vacation 
to study with Hon. John M. Hall, of Willimantic. Connecticut, making a four 
and a half mile walk every morning and e\ening, nine miles daily, and study- 
ing and looking after Mr. Hall's business, who was most of the time absent, 
having lieen a memljer of the Connecticut Legislature. These trips were l>y 
rail in addition to the day's walk, so the whole day — the walk, the ride, the 
office work — was a very busy one. After his graduation, in March, 1872, he 
visited bis old home for a few weeks, after which he returned to Michigan 
and located at Grand Rapids. There he was admitted to the bar and was 
principally occupied in settling the estate of a Mr. Gardner. This w'ork took 
him through the central and northern parts of the state. While at Clare, Clare 
county, making collections for the estate, he met Hon. I. .\. Fancher, of Mount 
Pleasant, who induced him to come to Isabella county and make it bis future 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 38/ 

Ikiiik'. These two gentlemen were partners in the practice of law for three 
years. Mr. Hopkins was then for two years in partnership with Michael 
Devereaux; commencing witii January i. 1875, his i)artner was for nearly two 
years Wade B. Smith. He tiien associated himself with Free Estee, who had 
previou.sly studied law with him. Mr. Hopkins' health having failed, princi- 
pally from over-work, and lieing a member of the state Legislature, his busi- 
ness was looked after almost wliojly liy his partners, first Mr. Smith, tiien 
Mr. Estee. He spent two summers at lliggins Lake, Roscommon county, in 
search of rest and health, and in tiie winter of 1881 and 1882 visited his 
mother at Coventry, Connecticut, where he remained for six months. With 
he.-dlli impmxed. lie returned to .Mt. Pleasant and the first of lanuary. 1883, 
tormed a co-partnership with Daniel E. Lyon and entered the real estate 
and insurance business; the outdoor life being congenial to him, he gained 
much of his former strength. They did a large insurance and loaning busi- 
ness, the latter amounting to one hundred thousand dollars in 1883, secured 
on im])rci\ed farms. 

Mr. Hopkins is a Republican in politics and has always taken a great 
interest in public matters. When twenty-two years of age he was elected a 
member of the board of education for Coventry, Connecticut, his name having 
been jjlaced unanimously on both the Republican and Democratic tickets, and 
he served three years. In the early part of 1873 1'*^ "'^^ appointed clerk of 
L'niou township. Isabella county. Michigan, and in the spring was elected to 
the position, and was twice re-elected. He ser\ed seven years as justice of 
the ])eace, and two years as deputy township clerk while attending to the duties 
as justice. He was for one year superintendent of .schools at Mt. Pleasant 
for Cnion townshi]) and also for the city; and for si.x years he was a member 
and president of the board of education for the city, and was the first village 
attorney. When only seventeen years of age he was president of the Young 
Men's L\ceum and Debating Society in Coventry. Connecticut, and while a 
student at the Michigan l'ni\ersity president of a literary society known as 
the jetYersonian. which was connected with the law department. In 1875 to 
1876 inclusive he served as prosecuting attorney of Isabella county, this term 
being a particularly busy one, several imirortant matters claiming his attention, 
the one of most interest to the public being the case in which the county was 
defendant in a suit brought by Vernon townshi]) to recover ten thousand dol- 
lars of tax moneys. I-'ormerly Clare county had been attached to \'ernon 
township, and previously to Midland and Mecosta, one-half each. Mr. Hop- 
kins succeeded in sustaining the county's position, and afterwards, while a 
member of the Michigan Legislature, again defended the countv in a claim 



388 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

brought by Midland and Mecosta counties and after a hard effort extending 
over four weeks, he won again for his county. He was elected to the Legisla- 
ture as representative from Isabella county in 1876, and, having made such a 
worthy record, he was re-elected in 1879, serving four years. During the 
first term he was a member of the committeee on judiciary, also public lands 
and liquor traffic. During the second term he was a member of the judiciary 
and educational committees, and was chairman of the sjjecial committee on 
taxation and of the special joint committee of the House and Senatd on taxa- 
tion. This was the most important committee of the session, and Mr. Hop- 
kins was the youngest member of it. Messrs. Hall, Stanchheld, Ferguson and 
Kuhn, of the House, and Senators Childs, Cochrane and Farr were the mem- 
bers. A bill to reorganize the tax matters of the state passed the House, 
but failed in the Senate. A year later a commission appointed by the governor 
prepared a bill carrying into effect provisions similar to those of Mr. Hopkins' 
bill. He was offered the senatorial nomination, but declined to run, as his 
health forbade. He served for six years as chairman of the Republican 
county committee. In all these positions of public trust he served very faith- 
fully and ably in a manner that reflected much credit upon himself and to the 
entire satisfaction of his constituents. 

In 1874 Mr. Hopkins platted the Hopkins addition to the town of Mt. 
Pleasant. In 1877, while in attendance to the Legislature, he was nominated 
without his knowledge for village president, but was not elected. In 1882 he 
was accorded the unanimous nomination on the Republican ticket for prose- 
cuting attorney of Isabella county ; he made no canvass and was not elected. 
In 1884 he was an alternate and attended the Republican national convention 
held at Chicago which nominated Blaine and Logan. In 1892 Mr. Hopkins, 
as chairman of the executive committee of the Business Men's Association, 
had charge of the work of locating the United States Indian Industrial School 
in Isabella county, and carried on the correspondence concerning it with the 
authorities at Washington and with the member of Congress for the district. 
Colonel Bliss, afterward governor, and succeeded in locating it at Mt. Pleas- 
ant. He then conceived the idea of platting land, selling it and applying the 
proceeds for the erection of a normal school. This was done, the present 
Central State Normal being the result. A company was formed and incor- 
porated and Mr. Hopkins has always been its secretary. The school is the 
pride of the city. Mr. Hopkins has been interested in four additions to the 
city and is the owner of two. 

In 1892 Mr. Hopkins was elected to the state Senate and he served during 
the session held in 1893. He was president pro tem. of the Senate, and was 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 389 

chairman of the special committee of the Senate and joint committee of the 
House and the Senate on taxation, and he introchiced a l)ill revising the tax laws 
of the state wliich became a law and, with sdnie changes, i.s the present law of 
the state. He was a member of the judiciary committee and the university 
committee, also the committee on education. He was appointed chairman of 
the last, but resigned in favor of another member, still ser\ing, however, on 
the committee. In 1896 he esiwused the cause of bimetallism and supported 
Bryan and Sewell for the leaders of the national ticket. He was chairman 
of the Silver Repul)lican committee for the eleventh congressional district, 
and was chairman of the Silver Republican convention held at Bay City and 
vice-chairman of the joint convention of Sihcr Republicans, Populists and 
Democrats held there, and at the union of the parties he and Senator W. R. 
Burt were api^ointed to name the candidates for governor and lieutenant-gov- 
ernor, which they did. In a convention of three hundred delegates, Mr. Hop- 
kins needed onl\- <inc and three-fourths votes to receive the nomination for 
candidate for congress. He canvassed the state, lieing in several joint dis- 
cussions, one at Cadillac, one at Escanaba and one at Traverse City. With 
the strongest and ablest debaters the parties could pit against him. he never 
failed to carry his audience, w hich often numbered thousands. He was nom- 
inated on the Union ticket U,v the state Senate in i8r;6, but while he ran far 
ahead of his ticket failed to overcome the heav\- majority of the district and 
was not elected. In iiStjS he was nominateil for prosecuting attorney, but 
again met defeat, although he ran ahead of his ticket. He supported Bryan 
and Stevenson and canvassed the state in 1900. He was one of the four 
delegates-at-large for the national Lincoln Republican convention held in 1900 
at Kansas City, and he was chairman of the notification committee to notify 
Mr. Bryan of his nomination and he wrote the letter of notification, and re- 
cei\cd from the great commoner a letter complimenting him upon the one 
he had received regarding the notification. He was an alternate to the Demo- 
cratic national con\ ention in 1900. held in Kansas City, and was also chairman 
of the state delegati(jn to the People's party national convention held in Sioux 
City in 1900. and he attended all these conventions, and canvassed the state 
for the ticket. Since then he has taken but little active part in politics. 

Mr. Hopkins was president of the Mt. Pleasant Sugar Company for 
several years. After this work was largely in the hands of others and the 
building stopped, he turned his attention to other improvements and succeeded 
after a year's effort in locating the Michigan Condensed Milk Company in 
Mt. Pleasant, an additional improvement to the city and county of vast im- 
portance. I'pon his return from New ^'ork. when he finally succeeded in 



390 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

locating the factory here, he was met at the station upon arrival of the train 
by the mayor, who was accompanied by the government school band and a 
delegation of the board of trade, of which he is a charter member, and of 
citizens and escorted to the Bennett hotel and thence to the opera house, 
where the assembled audience listened to a recital of his accomplishment in 
securing the factory, and where the mayor, for the citizens, presented to him 
a new hat and a pocketbook containing five twenty-dollar gold pieces, making 
a sum of one hundred dollars. Some twelve years before, E. B. ]\Iuel!er & 
Company, of New York, chicory manufacturers, came to Mt. Pleasant to look 
up a location, but placed their establishment at Port Huron. In 1910 Mr. 
Hopkins, who had kept in touch with them, entered into a correspondence re- 
garding the erection of a plant in this city, and after se\'eral letters had passed 
between them they were induced to come to this city, where they were in- 
troduced to the board of trade and other citizens by Mr. Plopkins, who met 
with them. Owing to the temporary failure of Mr. Hopkins" health, he could 
not give the matter further attention, but the board of trade carried the matter 
through and another very successful and important industry was added to Mt. 
Pleasant. His public spirit has always been unlimited, as he has always had 
great faith in Isabella county, and has insisted that Mt. Pleasant should he a 
city of much more importance and of more rapid growth. 

The domestic life of Mr. Hopkins liegan on Decenilier 10, 1873, when, 
at Jerusalem, New York, he was united in marriage with Margaretta Vedder, 
a lady of culture and refinement and the eldest daughter of Rev. Dr. Edwin 
and Ida (Williamson) Vedder, the former a native of Schenectady, New 
York, and the mother of tlie state of New Jersey. The death of the latter 
occurred on July 4, 1900. Doctor Vedder is living at the advanced age of 
ninety-five years, having arrived at that age on August 22, 1910. He lives 
with his children and at his summer home at Schoharie, New York. He has 
done an incalculal:)le amount of good and is a grand old man whom to know 
is to honor and admire. Mrs. Hopkins was born February i, 1846, at Little 
Falls, New Jersey, and she lived with her parents while her father preached 
at the churches of his denomination at Berne, Middleburg, Gallupviile. Scho- 
harie, New Scotland and Jerusalem, all in New York, he having left Little 
Falls, New Jersey, when Mrs. Hopkins was a small child. As pastor of the 
Reformed churches at the above named places he was very popular and l)uilt 
up tlie congregation. 

One son, Herbert Vedder, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins, on 
August 21, 1876, at Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, and he died at Jerusalem. New 
York, August 4, 1877. A daughter, Lila Vedder, was l>orn to them on April 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 391 

20, 1885. She was married to Jay Harris Buell. September 3. 1907, and they 
have one child, Harris Hopkins Buell, born November 12, 1909. Their home 
is at Gaylord. Michigan. 

The commodious, modern and attractive home of Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins 
is a park-like place, the wide, spacious lawns being shady and inviting, orna- 
mental and fruit trees, shrubbery, vines and flowers being in profusion, and 
because ten stately oaks grow near this l^eautiful residence the place is known 
as Oakten. It is on Normal avenue and in the most desirable residence portion 
of the city. Here the many friends of the famil}- often gather, finding an old- 
time hospitalit}- and good cheer ever prevailing. The house is equipped with 
a splendid and carefully selected library, where Mr. Hopkins spends many 
pleasant hours, losing himself "in other men's minds." and is familiar with 
the world's best literature. 

While a member of the board of education for the city. Mr. Hopkins 
took part in locating three sites for schools and erecting five school buildings. 
He assisted with work and liberal contributions in the erection of the county 
court house, the railroads which enter the city and the chemical works, as well 
as manv other industries. He has delivered many Fourth of July addresses, 
also made Memorial day orations, many of which have lieen published, and ad- 
dresses before state religious conferences, state and county fairs, high school 
and college graduating classes and on many other occasions, often addressing 
audiences composed of thou.sands of people at Lansing, Grand Rapids, Port 
Huron, .\lnia. St. Louis. St. Clair, Marine City, Midland. Mayville, Big 
Rapids, Reed City, Mt. Pleasant, Shepherd, Clare, Cadillac, Traverse City, 
Barraga, Hancock, Calumet, Lake Linden, Escanaba, Menominee, Ludington, 
Scottville, Lake Odessa, and other cities. Many of these addresses have been 
published. His letter to Mr. Bryan has also been published and may be found 
in the Central State Normal Library at Mt. Pleasant. As a speaker he is 
logical, earnest and often truly el<w|uent, never failing to hold his audience in 
rapt attention. 

Mrs. Hopkins is a member of the Presbyterian church, in which siie has 
been an active worker for ye.';rs and for years she was president of the Ladies' 
Aid Society. Although not a meml)er, Mr. Hopkins was for years trustee and 
secretary and treasurer of the board and helped build the local church of this 
denomination. He was superintendent of the Sunday school for several years. 
He belongs to the LTnitarian church, which he assisted very materially in 
building, and for two years he was vice-president of the board of trustees and 
for twenty years president of the board. For years he has been superintendent 
of the Sunday school and is usually found in church on Sunday. His habits 



392 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

have ever been exemplary, and he has never drank a glass of intoxicating 
liquor nor used tobacco in any form. He is a fearless and independent 
thinker — no dogmas for him. He believes in the gospel of intelligent industry, 
and that the boys or girls who care for themselves properly and work indus- 
triously and intelligently will reap their measure of reward. He has been of 
great assistance in encouraging young people and starting them on the right 
road in life and many a young man owes his success, in a measure at least, for 
having heeded his advice when hesitating at the parting of the ways. His life 
itself could be held up as a worthy example to the youth whose fortunes and 
destinies are still matters for the future to determine. 



PROF. CHARLES T. GRAWN. 

The life of Prof. Charles T. Grawn. the popular and efficient president of 
the Central State Normal School at 'Sit. Pleasant, has been one of hard study 
and research from his youth and, since maturity of laborious professional 
duty in the several relations in which he has been placed. The high position to 
w hich he has attained is evidence that the qualities he possesses afford tiie 
means of distinction under a svstem of go\'ernment in which places of honor 
and usefulness' are open to all who may 1)e found worthy of them. His thirty 
vears of service as the head of various institutions of learning ha\e been 
characterized by a series of advancements in educational methods which dem- 
onstrate his ability as a man of progressive ideas, besides winning for him 
an iionorable place among the leading" educators of the state. Possessing 
great force of character and executive aliility of a high order, he has brought 
the schools to a high standard of efficiency and by insisting that only teachers 
of recognized scholarship and professional experience be employed, and that 
the most approved methods of instructiDu lie adopted, lie looks ho[)efully for- 
ward to still greater improvement in the future. As an educator he is widely 
known throughout Michigan and cither states and his suggestions pertaining 
to matters educational command respect in all the institutes, associations and 
conventions of educators which he attends. 

President Grawn is the scion of a .sterling Swedish ancestry, many of 
whose winning attributes seem to have descended to him. He was born in 
Salem, Washtenaw county, Michigan, on Octolier 4, 1857, and he is the son 
of Andrew and Christena Grawn, both born near Stoekholm, Sweden, the 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 393 

father in 1814 and the motlier in 1820. The fatlicr served for a periud of 
fourteen years as major in the standing army of Sweden. 

Prof. Charles T. Grawn enjoys the advantages of an excellent education, 
having graduated from the State Normal College at Ypsilanti, Michigan, in 
18S0, and havitig received the degree of Master of Arts from Columbia Uni- 
versity in the city of New York. He received the honorary degree of Master 
of Arts from the University of Michigan in 1906. He has always been a 
student and has kept well abreast of the times in all matters pertaining to his 
vocation, current events, as well as the progress in science and the world of 
literature. Early in life he fostered a laudable ambition to become a teacher, 
and. bending every effort in this direction, succeeded admirably from the 
first. From 1880 to 1884 he was principal of tiie high school at Plymouth, 
Michigan ; from 1884 to 189c) he was superintendent of the schools of Traverse 
City. Michigan ; he was director of the Training School of the Ypsilanti 
State Normal College from 1899 to 1900, and since the last date he has been 
president of the Central State Normal School at Mt. Pleasant, an institution 
which has done much to advance the educational interests of the state. In 
all these institutions he has performed his work in a maimer tliat has reflected 
nuich credit upon liimself and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned, build- 
ing up the system in each place and greatly strengthening the work in all 
departments. 

Politically, the Professcr is a Republican, and while he is always ready 
to support such measures as make for the general good, he has never found 
time to be a politician or hold public office. Religiously, he is an active mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian church, of which he is ruling elder and president of the 
board of trustees. 

On November 24, 1884, President Grawn was united in marriage with 
Helen I. Blackwood, a lady of culture and refinement who has been of great 
assistance to him in bis life work. She represents an excellent old pioneer 
family, being the daughter of Samuel and Mary Jane (Ewing) Blackwood, 
of Xorthville. Michigan. This union has been graced by the birth of two 
children, Hildegarde M. Grawn and Carl Blackwood Grawn. 

President Grawn is a gentleman of pleasing address, courteous, obliging 
and genteel, and in the school room he is both an instructor and entertainer. 
He is known to all classes as one of the scholarly men of the county, who, not 
content to hide his talents amid life's sequestered ways, has by the force of 
will and correct ideals forged to the front in a responsible and exacting calling, 
and earned an honorable reputation as the head of one of the most important 
branches of public service. 



394 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

EDWARD O. HARRIS. 

The life of tlie eminent and successful business man, though filled to 
repletion with activity and incident, presents fewer salient features to excite 
the interest of the general reader than the man whose place in the public eye 
has been won through the glamour and display of military achievement. But 
to acquire distinction or great prosperity in the business pursuits which give 
to the country its financial sti'ength and credit requires ability of as high if 
not higher order than that which leads to victory on the field of battle. This 
will be readily appreciated by all who tread the busy thoroughfares of trade, 
for present-day industrial battles are almost as fierce as any. Thus the man 
who wins in this field, especially at an early age, as has Edward O. Harris, the 
well-known mill man of Mt. Pleasant, Isabella county, is deserving of a great 
deal of credit and of the universal confidence and esteem which he today 
enjoys. Those who know him best will readily acquiesce in the statement that 
he is a man of unusual sagacity in business matters, exercising rare soundness 
of judgment, foresight and acumen and at the same time guarding well the 
honored name of the Harris family, also doing his full share in promoting the 
interests of his county. 

Mr. Harris was born at Mt. Pleasant on August 15, 1877. He is the 
son of Mr. and Mrs. John A. Harris, an excellent and well-known family, 
which is fully mentioned on another page of this work. 

Edward O. Harris grew to maturity in his home town and attended the 
common schools, being graduated from the local high school. Being by nature 
of a business turn of mind, he started in the commercial world when young 
in years, entering the milling business with his father and uncles when eigh- 
teen years of age, and he is now in charge of a large and popular milling 
plant, which he is conducting in a manner that reflects much credit upon his 
business ability. It is the only grist mill in Mt. Pleasant and no better prod- 
ucts are turned out by any mill in the North, which fact results in the wide- 
spread demand for the products of this mill throughout the country. 

Mr. Harris also runs an extensive and well-equipped electric plant, 
which he purchased in May, 1907, and which furnishes light for the city, of 
one hundred and fifty kilowat capacity, the streets being lighted by it. It is 
one of the neatest and best little electric plants in this part of the state. 

Mr. Harris was married to Pearl Vroman, a lady of culture and refine- 
ment and the representative of a prominent old family, the date of their 
wedding being in April, 1905. This union has resulted in the birth of two 
children, Robert and Richard O., both at home. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 395 

.Mr. Harris is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent 
and Protective Order of Elks. He is a popular young man in all circles and 
has proven his ability to manage large affairs. 

The Harris Milling Company is one of those institutions which iiave 
contributed quite largely toward the building up of this city, as well as the de- 
velopment of the territory surrounding, it l)eing a pioneer among the business 
enterprises of this city. This mill was erected in 1872 by Harris Brothers, the 
firm consisting of ]. A., \V. E. and Henry G. Harris and Warner Churchill, 
a brother-in-law. This was the only mill in this section for many years, con- 
sequently attracting many farmers toward this city who otherwise might have 
gone in other directions for their merchandise. This mill has also furnished 
a good market for grains at all times, a fact which has been, and is, thorougiilv 
appreciated both by the peojjle of this city and the farming community. 

This mill, when first put in operation, was a very modest one in com- 
parison with the present plant, it having been enlarged as the business grew 
and circumstances would w.;rrant, until today it is considered one of the best 
equipped flouring mills in this section of Michigan. The business was con- 
ducted liy Harris Brothers from 1872 until i8g8, when tiie Harris Milling 
Company. Limited, was organized, they having conducted the business up to 
the pre.sent time. The officers of tiie company are : President, Samuel L. 
Harris ; secretary and treasurer, Edward O. Harris. 

This mill has a capacity of one hundred and fifty barrels of flour, seventy- 
five barrels of buckwheat flour or meal and fifty tons of feed per day. The two 
brands of flour which this company pushes are "Famo" and ".A i Bread 
Flour," Ijesides putting first-class articles of buckwheat, graham flour and 
corn meal on the market. They have worked up a \ery extensive local trade 
and besides have merchants liandling their flours in every village or city along 
the .\nn Arbor railroad from Owosso to Frankfort, while shipping to a con- 
siderable number of places on the Pere Marquette lines. They also ship quite 
extensively in car lots to Baltimore. Maryland, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

This mill also does a verv' extensive "customs" business, that being the 
term applied to the business of grinding flour, etc.. for the farmers of this 
section, the reputation for fair dealing and the production of a desirable article 
having built for them a very finnly established business in this line. The fact 
that this mill also furnishes a local market for all of the wheat and oats raised 
in this section is something which the farmers appreciate, yet in order to 
meet the demands of its business the firm is compelled to purchase in outside 
markets and ship to this city annually from eighty thousand to one hundred 
thousand bushels of corn, which is ground into feed and shipped north. 



396 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

This mill is run by water power, the company owning one of the most 
desirable water powers to be found in this section of Michigan, from which 
there are at the present time six water wheels being run, with a total of five 
hundred and twenty-five horse power. Besides supplying all of the power 
needed for their own use in the conduct of the mills, the company leases power 
to the city of Mt. Pleasant, from which the municipal water system is run, 
and also to the Harris Electric Company, in addition pumping water for the 
Ann Arbor railroad for their water tank and round house at this point. 



PROF. ERNEST T. CAMERON. 

The life of the scholarly or professional man seldom exhibits any of 
those striking incidents that seize upon public feeling and attract attention to 
himself. His character is generally made up of the aggregate qualities and 
qualifications he may possess, as these may be elicited l)y the exercise of the 
duties of his vocation or the particular profession to which he belongs. But 
when such a man has so impressed his individuality upon his fellow men, as 
to gain their confidence and, through that confidence, rises to a high and im- 
portant ])ublic trust, he at once becomes a conspicuous figure in the body politic 
of the community and state. 

Prof. Ernest T. Cameron, commissioner of public schools of Isabella 
county, is one of those scholarly men, who, not content to hide his talents amid 
life's sequestered ways,. has, by the force of will and a laudable ambition, 
forged to the front in a responsible and exacting calling, and earned an hon- 
orable reputation as the head of one of the most important branches of public 
service. He was born on April 14, 1879, in Leith, Ontario, and is the son of 
John R. and Anna (Morrison) Cameron, the father born in New Brunswick 
in 1849; they were married in Ontario, where the mother was born, in Gray 
countv. Their li\ing children are, Ernest T. of this review ; Erma, who mar- 
ried I. D. Wallington, a well-known citizen of Mt. Pleasant; Morrison, who is 
attending the State Normal School at Mt. Pleasant. 

Professor Cameron was brought by his parents to Milbrook, Mecosta 
county, Alichigan, when six months old, and there his father engaged in the 
mercantile business, and there the son grew to boyhood. In 1885 the family 
moved to Sherman City, Isabella county, the father being one of the early 
settlers there and one of the first to engage in the drug and hardware business. 

The subject received his education in the district schools at that place. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 397 

his father remaining there the rest of his hfe, dying on Jannary 9, 1908; the 
mother is still living, making her home with iier son. Ernest T., dining the 
winter months and on the old homestead in the summer time. A ftcr passing 
through the district schools, Krnest T. attended the Central Normal, where 
he received a graded life certificate in 1898. After working in his father's 
store one year, he attended the Normal College at Ypsilanti and got a life 
certificate in 1900. He taught in tlic Holland high sciiool one year, and wiiile 
living there was married to Mattie Johnson, of Sherman City, who was born 
in Ontario. Canada, in' 1878. She moved to Sherman City from Bay City, 
Michigan. To tlie Professor and wife three children have been born, one 
dying in infancy; Ronald was born in Felnuary, 1907. and I']rnestiiic's hirtli 
occurred on September 26, 1908. 

After teaching school a year after his marriage. Professor Cameron went 
to Lansing, Michigan, as clerk in the auditor-general's office, where he re- 
mained three months, tlien was transferred as clerk to the state tax commis- 
sion, remaining in this position three years. He then returned to Isabella 
county, and spent two years teaching and in business with his father-in-law. 
Gilbert Johnson, in a stock farm. The father died at this time and lunest T. 
took charge of his affairs in the spring of 1907. About the same time he I)e- 
came a candidate on the Rei)ublican ticket for the office of school commissioner, 
and was subsequently elected. His term expires on July i, 191 1. He taught 
science in the Central Norni.il in the summer of 1908 and in 1910 taught the 
institute courses. His chief work as commissioner has been, first, in placing the 
buildings in all the school districts throughout the county in good sanitary con- 
dition and seeing that they are perfectly equipped, thereby permitting a larger 
amount of work to be accomplished, also in keeping the financial conditions 
of the various districts in better shape : and in bringing the county commis- 
sioner in closer touch with the schools of the county. He has been very suc- 
cessful in his work, considering the short time he has served as commissioner. 
The enforcement of the compulsory educational act has to the present time 
resulted in douliling the number of the eighth grade graduates in the last two 
years. The financial affairs of the school districts are in such condition that the 
directors' reports of 1909 were, according to the state department of educa- 
tion, the first to be received in perfect condition. 

Professor Cameron is a member of the Knights of the Maccaliees of 
Sherman City, Hammond Tent No. 307, he being past commander of the 
same. He is a charter member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of 
Elks, Lodge No. 1164. of Mt. Pleasant; he is trustee of Castle Hall No. 66. 
Knights of Pythias, and a member of Mt. Pleasant Lodge No. 217. Inde])en- 



1 



398 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

dent Order of Odd Fellows. He is senior warden of Waiibon Lodge No. 305. 
Free and Accepted Masons, of Mt. Pleasant, the chapter of Royal Arch Ma- 
sons of Mt. Pleasant, the council of Royal and Select Masters, at Lansing, and 
the Bay City Consistory, he being a thirty-second-degree Mason and prominent 
in Masonic circles. He is also a member of Moslem Temple, Ancient Arabic 
Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Detroit. Mr. Cameron was the first 
president of the library board of Mt. Pleasant. 



JOHN ADAMS DAMON. 

Among those men of sterling attributes of character who ha\c ini])ressed 
their personality upon the community of their residence and ha\e burnc their 
full share in the upbuilding and development of Isaljclla county, mentinn nuist 
not be omitted of John Adams Damon, the present ]io])ular and efficient county 
treasurer and well known business man of Isal)ella ctnuity. He has e.xerted a 
strong influence for good, being a man of upright principles and desirous to 
sec the advancement of the community alimg moral, educational and material 
lines. 

Mr. Damon was born June 4, 1850, in Madison, Lake county. CJhin. He 
is the son of George and Mary (Tyler) Damon, both natix'es of Massachusetts, 
of which state their parents had long made their residence. There Mr. and 
Mrs. George Damon grew to maturity and were married, later mo\ing to 
Pennsyh-ania, thence to Ohio. The following children were liorn tn them: 
Henrv. who died in 1864, v.bile in the Union army; Harrison, who resides in 
Massachusetts; Rev. W. C. of Oakland, California; Isaac T., of Millington, 
Michigan; George E., who died at Pleasant Hill, Missouri, February 15, 
1910; Mary E., who married Wash Woodard, of Windsor, \\' isconsin ; 
Frances E.. of Oakland. California; John A., of this review; Charles, who 
died at Denver, Colorado, April 3, 1905; Martha, now Mrs. Frank Hulbert, 
lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. The parents of these children are both de- 
ceased, the father dying in i860 and the mother in 1864, both dying in Wis- 
consin, where they moved from Ohio in 1855, locating near Madison. 

fohn A. Damon, of this review, was five years old when his jiarents 
moved to Wisconsin. He obtained a good education at Madison and spent 
three years in the preparatory department of the University of Wisconsin, 
and one year as a freshman, making foui" years in all in the State L'nixersitv 
there. He began his sophomore year, but was com])elle(l to lea\e school on 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 399 

account of weakening eyes. Being inclined to try the rosy path of hteraturc. 
he devoted considerable attention to this work, and he taught school for two 
years near Madison, working on a farm during the summer months. lie later 
went to Beloit, Wisconsin, and was employed in a drug store as clerk there 
for four years, preparing to make the drug business his life work. At this 
time he was married to Ella G. Jewett. May lo, 1873. She is the daughter of 
Joseph L. and Sarah Jewett. Her peojjle were from X'ermoiit and New York, 
respectively. Slie was born at Beloit. Wisconsin. May 10, 1853. To this 
union tliese children have been born: Howard P.. whose birth occurred at 
Beloit. July 31. 1874. is now a shoe salesman at Grand Rapids; Mabel G. was 
born in Millington. IMichigan, on July 13. 1880. and she married Mnvd Mit- 
chell, of W'eidman, Isabella coiuity. 

After s])ending four years in Beloit. John A. Damon located at Milling- 
ton, Tuscola county. Miciiigan. in the spring of 1876 and engaged in the drug 
and grocery business, he l>eing a registered pharmacist. 

Mr. Damon has always been deeply interested in jiolitical matters and his 
genuine worth and public si)irit has ])een recognized and appreciated l)v leaders 
in tile l\c])ul)lican party. Whik' at Weidman Mr. Damon was active in or- 
ganizing the fir.st school district and later in the graded school district served 
on the school board continuously while there. He was a member of the school 
Iward in Millington al.so. He was selected as the party's candidnte for the 
state Legislature from the tirst district, Tu.scola county, in 1886. and wris dulv 
elected, .serving four years in a manner that reflected much credit upon himself 
and to the entire satisfaction of his constituents, winning a record in that im- 
portant body of which anyone might well be proud. He will long be remem- 
bered, among other things of service he did tliere for the general public, liv 
introducing the Damon li(|uor bill, designed to regulate the general liquor busi- 
ness of the state. In 1890 he was in charge of branch of recorded indebted- 
ness of the state of Michigan the eleventh census, having one assistant in each 
congressional district. The financial interests of the state were carefullv gone 
over in this work, and six months were spent in this undertaking. 

In the fall of 1891 Mr. Damon sold out his business and went to the 
state of Georgia, where he engaged in the manufacturing business, but re- 
turned to Michigan the following year. He purchased a stock of drugs and 
wall pajier at Hubbardston. Ionia county, where he remained two years, then 
mo\ed his goods to W'eidman. Isaljella county, in the fall of 1894. where he 
put in a line of groceries. He was burned out in June. 1897, but immediately 
rebuilt on a more extensive scale than formerly, and engaged in a general 
mercantile business, handling nearlv evervthing but harflwarc. He continued 



400 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

here with his usual success until December, 1906. In the fall of that year he 
was elected county treasurer, and was re-elected in 1908, having made a 
splendid record during his first term and he is now the incumbent of this 
office. Selling out his business at Weidman, this county, he moved his family 
to Mt. Pleasant and he intends to make his future home here, though he has 
retained some business interests in Weidman, being connected with the Weid- 
man Banking Company as vice-president. He is also connected with the 
Holmes Milling Company there, being vice-president of this company also. 
Since coming to this county he has been successfully engaged in business. Mr. 
and Mrs. Damon have been for many years consistent and active members of 
the Methodist Episcopal church. 



CHESTER R. GORHA.M. 

In reviewing the history of those who have been instrumental in the 
upbuilding and advancement of the material growth of the city of Mt. Pleas- 
ant, the name of Chester R. Gorham will rank among the first. Coming to 
Mt. Pleasant in 1888, he with his brother and son established the plant now 
known as the Gorham Brothers Company, giving employment to many, and 
the homes which have been built and the improvements which have been 
brought about through the influence of this great work will be a lasting monu- 
ment to his ability, quiet and unassuming ways, and honest industry. After 
long years of faithful service and toil, he rests from iiis labors, in the silent 
grave, the resting place of all mankind, where he sleeps the sleep that knows 
no waking, but the forces he set in motion liere for the material and moral 
good of the community w ill never die away, and the example he set the young 
men of Mt. Pleasant in the way of a successful battle against odds and 
obstacles and of wholesome living in all the relations of life, is far-reaching 
and will continue to grow. 

Chester R. Gorham, widely known as the president of the Gorham Broth- 
ers Company, was the scion of a sterling Eastern family, his birth having 
occurred in Chenango county. New York, in 1846. When but a child his 
parents moved to Ohio, settling at Euclid, near Cleveland, and now a suburb 
of the Lake City, and there he received his education and gre\v to maturity. 
When eighteen years of age he commenced the manufacture of baskets. In 
his humble workshop was laid the foundation for the present extensive busi- 
ness of the Gorham Brothers Company. At first the working force was very 





C^/h'Ci/^^-^ 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 4OI 

small, and fri'(|iR'iitl\- Mr. Gorhani himself was the only man on the pay- 
roll, the payroll itself l)cing somewhat irregular and uncertain, lie was not 
easily discouraged and he pushed forwanl in the face of all obstacles, relent- 
lessly persevering until ultimate success crowned his efforts, becoming in due 
course of time the head of an institution of which he had just cause to feel 
proud, which will ever stand as a fitting monument to his industry, sagacity 
and foresight. 

Mr. (Jorham maintained a home at Cleveland where his family preferred 
to reside, but the major portion of his time was spent in Mt. Pleasant. His 
death occurred on March 13, 19 10. 



FRANK II. nUSENBURY. 

It is the progressive, wide-awake man of atYairs that makes the real his- 
tory of a community, and his influence as a potential factor of the body politic 
is difilicult to estimate. The examples such men furnish of patient purpose 
and steadfast integrity strongly illustrate what it is in the power of each to 
accomplish, and there is always full measure of satisfaction in ad\-erting even 
in a casual way to their achievements in advancing the interests of their fellow 
men and in giving strength and .solidity to the institutions which tell so much 
for the prosperity of the community. Such a man is I'rank H. EHisenbury, 
one of the leading attorneys of southern Michigan and at present representa- 
tive in the state Legislature. Such a life as his is an inspiration to others who 
are less courageous and more prone to give up the fight w hen obstacles thwart 
their way. or their ideals have been reached or definite success has been at- 
tained in any chosen field. In the life history of Mr. Dusenbury are found 
evidences of a peculiar characteristic that always makes for achiexement, — 
persi.stency coupled with fortitude and lofty traits. — and as a result of such a 
life he has long stood as one of the best known, most influential and highly 
esteemed citizens of Isabella county. 

Mr. Dusenbury was born in Mt. Pleasant, this county, on Mav 26. 1878. 
He is the scion of an excellent old pioneer family, being the son of Frank H. 
and May \'. Dusenbury, the father born in Marshall, Michigan, and the mother 
born in Coldwater, this state. The father .served his countrv during the 
Civil war as assi.stant paymaster on the giuiboat ''Prairie Bird."' L'nited States 
navy. .\t the close of the war he received an honorable discharge. 

The son, Frank H. Dusenljurv. grew to maturitv in his home town and 
(26) 



1 



402 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

received his primary education in the public schools, also attended the high 
school at Mt. Pleasant and at Saginaw. He was always a student and made 
rapid progress, and, having early in life decided to enter the law, he accordingly 
began to bend every effort in that direction, and after he had a general literary 
education, entered the law department of the University of Michigan, where 
he made a brilliant record and from which he was graduated, in the class 
of 1902. Soon afterward he returned to Mt. Pleasant and opened a law 
office. His success was instantaneous and his clientele has continued to grow 
until he has long since taken a place in the front rank of attorneys in this 
and adjoining counties, figuring in most of the important cases that come up 
in the local courts. He is a painstaking, resourceful, energetic and fearless 
advocate, and keeps abreast of the times in every respect, especially in the 
matter of important decisions and state rulings, and he is a vigorous and in- 
dividual investigator. 

Mr. Dusenbur}' was elected prosecuting attorney of Isabella county, and 
served the same with much credit to himself and to the satisfaction of all 
concerned, the court records standing as evidence of his eminent success as 
an incumbent of this important office. Having long been interested in the 
welfare of his county in a general way and taking an abiding interest in 
politics, he vvas elected representative from his district in the state Legislature 
in 1908, serving until 1910, when, having made a brilliant record, he was 
re-elected. He has made his influence felt in the House for the good of his 
constituents and is ever alert for the interests which he represents. As a 
speaker he is earnest, logical, forceful and often eloquent. So far, his rec- 
ord has justified the wisdom of the Republican party, which he has so faith- 
fully advocated, in placing him in this high office. 

On December 27, 1906, ]\Ir. Dusenbury led to the hymeneal altar Edith 
E. Gorham, a lady of culture and refinement and the daughter of Ezra S. 
and Mary M. Gorham, a respected and influential family of Mt. Pleasant, 
Michigan. To Mr. and Mrs. Dusenbury one child, Anne, was born on June 
17, 1909, but died in infancy. 

Fraternally Mr. Dusenbury is a member of the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern 
Maccabees. 

Mr. Dusenbury is a young man of ability and talents, honest, conscien- 
tious and conservative. He believes, and has proven this belief by his record, 
that justice should be impartial, and that the arm of the law should be wielded 
alike in the enforcement and defense of every citizen, regardless of politics, 
race, religion or financial standing. Although he believes that the safety of 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MRIIIC.AN-. 4O3 

society rests in the prompt and successful prosecution of crime, he yet believes 
that the machinery of the law should be set in motion only after due delibera- 
tion and careful investigation. lie is truly making a name for himself, and 
his conduct in office has been sucli tliat lie has not only gained, but retained, 
the confidence of all concerned, and, judging from his past record of honor, 
one would predict a future of much promise. 



FRANCIS H. DODDS. 

Francis II. Dodds, of Mt. Pleasant, was born in the township of Louis- 
ville, St. Lawrence county. New York, June 9, 1858. He moved to Isabella 
county with his parents in 1866, where he attended the public schools and 
obtained his early education. He began teaching when he was but sixteen 
years of age and pursued this calling for three years, in the rural schools of 
the county, in the village schools of Mt. Pleasant and in the village schools of 
Farwell. in Clare county. Mr. Dodds is a graduate of Olivet College; was 
graduated from the law dej-artment of the University of Michigan in 1880, 
and was elected president of the law alumni of that institution for the then 
ensuing year. He has been engaged in the practice of law continuously since 
then— from 1884 to 1886 at P>ay City, Michigan, and during the rest of the 
time at Mt. Pleasant, and has served as city attorney and as a member of the 
board of education of the latter place. Mr. Dodds is a Republican, and was 
elected to Congress from the eleventh congressional district in November, 
1908. and was re-elected to the sixty-second Congress in November. 1910. He 
is married and has four children. E. Nugent. Daphne A.. Dorothy E. and 
Gertrude Mae Dodds. 



ROY D. M.'\TTHE\VS. 

The present popular and efficient prosecuting attorney of Isabella county, 
Roy D. Matthews, is now moving along the pathway of professional success 
with mmy years of profitable activity before him. He is a man of thought 
and .study and finds essential nutriment in dining and supping with the legal 
authorities. His life has been a busy and useful one. and he is a man of un- 
shrinking integrity, rigid honesty, technical in his definitions of right living in 
all walks of life. 



404 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Mr. Matthews was born in Thornapple township, Barry count}', Michi- 
gan, February 11, 1878. He is the son of C. P. Matthews, who was born in 
Russell township, four miles from Chagrin Falls, Russell county, Ohio. From 
there he moved to Barry county, Michigan, when he was twenty-eight }ears 
of age. While living in Ohio he was married to Celinda Reed, at Chagrin 
Falls. From Barry county, Michigan, he moved to Owosso, this state, where 
he followed teaming, and he is still a resident of that place. His children are 
as follows: Arthur G., who lives in Shiawasse county, Michigan: Roy, of this 
review ; Iva E., Bert L., Lilah and Pearl, all living in Shiawassee. 

Roy D. Matthews was ten years of age when his parents moved to 
Owosso City and there he sold papers for several years. He had attended tJie 
district school in Barry county and he finished the graded schools at Owosso. 
He then worked continuously without missing a day until the following Sep- 
tember, for E. F. Dudley, in the produce business in Owosso. In the fall of 
1899 he entered the University of Michigan, took the law course, working his 
way through college, and was graduated with honors in 1902. He won the 
admiration of his fellow students, for he was not assisted by anyone and he 
had many obstacles to overcome. After his graduation he went to the office 
of W'atson & Chapman, of Owosso, and remained there until January i, 1903. 
He then established an office at Shepherd. Isabella county. While in the Uni- 
versity of Michigan he won an "M" on the baseball team. While in the office 
of Watson & Chapman he was appointed by Governor Bliss as circuit court 
commissioner, which position he held with credit until his removal to Shepherd. 
He remained in that place until 1908. He enjoyed a very satisfactory prac- 
tice and won a wide reputation as a careful, painstaking and well informed 
lawyer. The first month he was in Shepherd he made no more than expense 
money; the second month showed a small increase, and after that his busi- 
ness grew steadily until he became one of the leading memljers of the local 
bar. Being an ardent Republican and a public-spirited man. his aljility and 
worth were soon recognized by party leaders and he was elected prosecuting 
attorney in the fall of 1908. He mo\ed to Mt. Pleasant and since assuming 
charge of the duties of this office he has proven the wisdom of his selection, 
for he is always found at his post and has made a record of which his friends 
and constituents may well be proud. 

Mr. Matthews was president of the \-illage while living at Shepherd and 
he did many things for the general good of that community. 

On October 27, 1903, Mr. Matthews married, at Owosso, Michigan, 
Fannie C. Crawford, daughter of Robert D. and Olive Crawford, natives of 
Michigan and Massachusetts, respectively. Mrs. Matthews was born in 1882 



ISABELLA COLXTV. MICHIGAN. 4O5 

at Owosso, Micliigan. This union has Ijeen graced hy the l)irtli of one 
child. Ohve Louise, who was born April i"]. 1909. Mrs. Matthews graduated 
from the high school at Owosso in 1900. 

Fraternally Mr. Matthews is a meml)er of the Free and Accepted Masons. 
Lodge Xo. 2S8. of Shepiicrd. the Independent Order of Odd I'ellows of Ml. 
Pleasant, the Kniglits of l'\ thins at Owosso. and the Modern Woodmen of 
America at Shejiherd. being clerk of the latter for two or three years. 

Selling his property in Shepherd, he purchased very desirable property at 
Mt. Pleasant when he moved here. While in Shepherd he promoted and 
established an insurance business, which be sold when he moved to Mt. 
Pleasant. 



FATHER THOMAS O'CONNOR. 

The intluence of b'ather Thomas O'Connor, worth}' and well-known Cath- 
olic priest of ^It. Pleasant, has long been mo.st salutary in Isabella county, 
where he has labored earnestly for the amelioration of his people, content in 
following the example of the low ly Naxarene and caring little for the admiring 
plaudits of men. He is eminently deserving of the high esteem that is re- 
posed in him bv evervone. for bis career has been that of a man whose ideals 
are high and whose heart is in his work. 

Father O'Connor was born on June _'S. iSfiJ. on a farm near Huntington. 
Onebec. Canada, remaining there until he was eight years of age. and there 
he began his educational tr.iining. He then moved to Albany county. New 
^■ork. in 1870. In 1879 he entered St. Lawrence College at Montreal. Canada, 
finishing the classical cour.se there, then took two years' philosophical course 
with the Francescans at Brooklyn. New \'ork. He then took theology at 
Latrobe. Pennsylvania (Benedictine's). He was ordained on July j6, 1888. 
at (irand Rapids. Michigan, and was appointed assistant at St. Mary's church. 
Muskegon. Michigan. In January. 1891. be was appointed to Midland, and 
during the same year he was transferred to (irand Haven. On .August i. 
1899. he came to Mt. Pleasar.t. Michigan, where he has contiinied in the wDrk 
to the present time, having i)nilt up the congregation in a manjier that rellects 
much credit upon his earnestness of purim.se. his genuine ability and his power 
to inspire confidence in his parish. He was instrumental in .securing the paro- 
chial school, and be bought the Sisters' property. Being an ardent advocate 
of education, he has built here Sacred Heart .\cademy at an expense of about 
twentv-hve thousand dollars. It is beautiful in all its aiipointments. substan- 



406 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

tial, convenient and well suited for every purpose. Here are eight Dominican 
Sisters. It is a diploma school of the University of Michigan, and here are 
to be found about three hundred pupils, and the school is in a very flourishing 
condition and wields a powerful influence in this section of the state. It is 
under splendid management in every respect. When Father O'Connor came 
here he found the church unfurnished; he had it remodeled, at an expense of 
probably ten thousand dollars, making it a splendid edifice, and he also raised 
money to repair the Sisters' house. Since he came to Mt. Pleasant he has 
raised about fifty thousand dollars for buildings. He has a congregation of 
about three hundred families. These facts are certainly criterions enough of 
his indomitable energ}' and unswerving zeal. He has taken a great interest 
in all movements calculated to benefit the city in any way, such as inducing 
various enterprises to locate here. He is well liked and popular, and justly 
so, by the people of this vicinity — of all classes and creeds. Personally he is 
a very pleasant gentleman, kind, genial, a fluent conversationalist and a man 
who at once inspires confidence and respect, never courting publicity, plain 
and unassuming. 



HARRY G. MILLER. 



It is not everyone who makes a success as a journalist or publisher — in- 
deed, there are perhaps more failures in these lines than in any other avenue 
of human endeavor. Like the poet, the newspaper man must be born — gifted 
by nature. Hundreds enter the ranks who, after a struggle against great 
odds, are borne under by the current and e\entually take up something else as a 
life work. Thus he who makes a success as a devotee of the art preservative, 
over the "case" or in tiie sanctum of the editorial room, demonstrates that he 
has powers peculiar to himself, and also that he has Ijeen a \ery liard worker. 
Very likely he is a public-spirited man, for it has doubtless Iseen necessary for 
him to declare himself on questions and issues on which men and parties 
divide, and it is certain that he is an advocate for everything that goes to 
promote the upbuilding of his community. 

Such a man is Harry G. Miller, editor and joint owner of the Isabella 
County Courier, the popular Democratic paper of this vicinity, and which, 
under his able management, is regarded as a molder of public opinion and a 
power in promoting the principles of the Democratic party. 

Mr. Miller was born on January 9, 1880, near Vassar. Michigan. He is 
the son of H. A. Miller, long a prominent citizen in that section of the state. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 4O7 

who at the time of the suljject's birth was editor of tlie P'assar Times. He 
went to school in Vassar, and when about ten years of age the family moved 
to ]\It. Pleasant, the father becoming editor of The Democrat, whicii paper he 
l)m-cliascd at tliat time and developed into a valuable property, and later was 
called the Isabella County Courier. 

The son thus grew up in a newspaper "atmosphere" in Alt. Pleasant, and 
under the judicious traininjr of a wise sire he was early in life fitted for a 
career as journalist, and while now young in years he is an able and ex- 
perienced publisher. Here Harry G. Miller attended high school, and later 
the State Normal. Ijeing graduated from the latter, with a life certificate, 
in 1901. having made a splendid record for scholarship; but he did not make 
teaching his life work. He assisted his father in tiie office of his paper the 
summer after his graduation. In tlie fall of i()02 he entered the law depart- 
ment of the University of Michigan and spent one year there. During the ne.xt 
four years he turned his ;ittention to the stage and traveled as an actor 
throughout the country unlii igoj. e\incing much talent in this line, and be- 
coming well known in tiieatrical circles. However, he did not enter the pro- 
fession in a serious manner, desiring to gain a knowledge of the world first 
handed. 1 le gave up theatricals on account of his father removing to Saginaw 
and he was thus enabled to get a good business footliold in Mt. Pleasant, 
which he did by taking cbai-ge as editor of tlie paper ow ned by ins father, with 
his brother, l-larl M.. as business manager. The father is still working in 
Saginaw with the United States Healtli and Accident Insurance Company, 
holding the position of purchasing manager of the institution and also is editor 
of The .Iccidcnt .liif. 'I'iie mother makes her bonie in Mt. Pleasant. The 
sons have l>een \ery successful in their management of this paper, tiie circula- 
tion having rapidl\- increased and the prestige of the same become well estab- 
lished. .\s stated, it is the only Democratic newspaper in the county and as a 
party organ it is most valufible, being well edited and judiciously managed. 
It is rendered \aluable as an advertising medium and has a bright, clean ap- 
pearance from a nieclianical standjioint. Its columns teem w itii the latest. 
choicest and crisi)est news and it is read with pleasure and profit by a wide 
and ever increasing circle of patrons. In the spring of 1910 (.\pril) Earl 
Miller went to Clifton. .Xrizona, beconn'ng editor and manager of the Copper 
Era. leaving Harry (i. Miller as editor and manager of the local paper. 

W liilc at the uni\ersii\ Mr. .Miller became a nieniber of the University 
Comedy Club. This led to liis position with a theatrical troupe, giving him 
an opportunity to see the United States and to l)roaden his mind in many 
ways, but he was not reluctant to leave the stage when he saw an opportunity 
to eiUer his cbo'^en life work. 



408 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Mr. Miller is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks 
at Mt. Pleasant, also the Knights of Pythias. He belongs to the Phi Delta Pi 
of Central Normal, and he is a member of the Episcopal church. He is deeply 
interested in the growth and welfare of Mt. Pleasant and the general develop- 
ment of Isabella county and stands ready to aid in any movement for the good 
of the masses. 



GEORGE ABRAM DUSENBURY. 

This biographical memoir has to do with a character of unusual force 
and eminence, for George Abram Dusenbury. whose life chapter has been 
closed by the hand of death, was for a long lapse of years one of the financial 
leaders and prominent citizens of Isabella count}' and one of the leading pro- 
moters of the city of Mt. Pleasant, having come to this section in pioneer 
times, and he assisted in e\'ery way possible in bringing about the transforma- 
tion of the country from the wild condition found by the first settler to its 
later-da\' progress and improvement. While he carried on a special line of 
business in such a manner as to gain a cumfortalile competence for himself, 
he also belong to that class of representati\e citizens who ]jroniote the public 
welfare while advancing indixidual success. There were in him sterling traits 
which commanded uniform confidence and regard, and his memory is today 
honored l)v all who knew him and is enshrined in the he.'irts of his many 
friends. 

Mr. Dusenbury was the re])resentati\e of a fine old faniil\- of the Wol- 
verine state, his birth lia\ing occurred in Marshall. Calhoun county. Michigan, 
on February 21, 1845. He was the son of John and Elizabeth (Butler) 
Dusenbury, natives of Broome county, Xew York. The father was a mer- 
chant and in 1836 he came to Michigan and settled at Marshall where he 
engaged successfully in the mercantile business until his death in 1857. He 
was a man of excellent business qualifications and a man of honor and in- 
tegrity, well known and highly respected. 

When sixteen years of age George A. Dusenbury, of this review, hav- 
ing received a good common school education, launched out in the commer- 
cial world by taking a position as bookkeeper in the mill of E. B. Walbridge 
at Kalamazoo, this state. He then went to the United States and American 
express companies, and later spent four years in the Chicago office of the 
American Express Company, giving eminent satisfaction and gaining much 
general and practical knowledge in a business way. In 1866 he assisted in 



ISABFLXA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 40g 

Starting a local express company in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, and after 
one year there he sold out and went to New York wliere he found employ- 
ment in the office of the American Express Company, where he remained, 
giving his usual high-grade service, until 1876, when he returnetl to Michigan 
and engaged in tlie mercantile business with increasing success for four years 
at Homer, Calhoun county. His brother, iMruik. dxing in Mt. Pleasant, in 
lanu.Trv. i88c, and his widowed mother and sister having already located 
tliere, he moved to this city and engaged in the real estate and loan business, 
and in 1881 established a private banking enterprise, in partnership with his 
brother, William C. Dusenbury, under the Inni name of (i. .\. Dusenbury & 
Compan\ , and they operated the same with success from the first until 1888, 
when it was succeeded by Dusenbury. Xel.son & Com])any. the two Dusenburys 
retaining their interest in the institution. 'Ihis lirm continued the business 
as a private banking institution, but ado])ted the name Exchange Bank. In 
Mav, 1894. the Exchange Saxings Bank was organized and incorjiorated as 
a state bank, under the law s of the state, succeeding to the l)usincss of Dusen- 
bury, Nelson & Company. In its list of first officers, (]. A. Dusenburx- was 
cashier and William C. Dusenbury was assistant cashier. These officers con- 
tinued in charge of the bank until January 19. 1900, when another change 
was made in the officers, but the subject retained his old jiosition. and in 
1903 he was elected president and contimied in that important capacitv in a 
manner that reflected much credit upon iiimself and to tlie entire satisfac- 
tion of all concerned until his death, on September 22. 1905. 

This is the oldest bank in the county and one of the most popular in this 
section of the state. It is in the market at all times for good loans, and 
makes a specialty of loaning its funds on Isabella county real estate, where 
the security is ample, and loans to school districts, the constant aim of the 
management having ever been to throw around each loan every safeguard 
consistent with sound and conservative banking, and its sa\ings department 
is a very popular and important one. Nothing creates a stronger and more last- 
ing impression among commercial and financial circles with regard to the 
importance and prosperity of a city tiian the condition of her banks and 
financial institutions. In this respect the Exchange Savings Bank has con- 
tributed its full share toward ])lacing Mt. Pleasant in a very enviable position 
w ith the outside world. Therefore, too much credit cannot be given to George 
A. Dusenbury nor too much reverence paid his memory for establishing this 
hank, but there are many other reasons why he deserves a conspicuous place 
in the history of Isabella county. 

in 1884, in company with J. M. ShafTer, .Mr. Du.senbury erected a sub- 



4IO ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

stantial block at Gladwin, Michigan, and engaged in the mercantile business, 
being very successful. He was a man of fine business acumen, keen discern- 
ment, and exercised sound judgment and was by nature an organizer and 
promoter. Straightforward and honest in all his transactions with his fellow 
men, he commanded their utmost confidence and respect and was popular in 
all the relations of life. Personally he was a man of pleasing address, a 
genteel gentleman and charitable in his impulses. 

Mr. Dusenbury was married on June 24, 1875, at Evanston, Illinois, 
to Ida S. Perry, a lady of culture and refinement, and the representative of 
an influential and highly respected old family. She was bom at Lacon, 
Marshall county, Illinois, in 1850. Five children were born to this union, 
Elizabeth, Allan T., Ross Butler, Ralph and Philip George. 



FRANK B. WHITEHEAD. 

The gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch holds an 
important and responsible position with one of the largest business firms of 
central Michigan, and the manner in which he has discharged his duties in- 
dicates that the trust reposed in his ability and faithfulness has not been 
misplaced. William Whitehead, the subject's father, was a native of North- 
amptonshire, England, as was also the mother, who ijrevious to her 
marriage was Betsey Mead, .-\fter the birth of three of their children, Mr. 
and Mrs. Whitehead came to the United States and settled in Wayne county. 
New York, where they made their home until about the year 1867, when 
they moved to Isabella county, Michigan, and settled on a new farm four 
and a half miles southwest of I\It. Pleasant. William Whitehead's motive in 
coming to Michigan was to secure more and cheaper land, but the failure of 
his crops on account of early frosts the first two years greatly discouraged 
him. A fine crop and good prices the third year, however, put him upon 
his feet and from that time on his circumstances greatly improved, although 
the family suffered severely for several years on account of the ague, a dis- 
ease common to nearly all new countries, especially those heavily timbered. 

With the assistance of his sons, Mr. ^Vhitehead in due time cleared a 
good farm and established a fine home in Isabella county, where he spent the 
remainder of his days, his first wife dying before the family moved to this 
state. He subsequently married Ann Reed, who accompanied the family to 
Michigan and who survived him a few years, leaving one of the three chil- 



ISABFLLA COUNTY, MICIIIGAX. 4II 

dren born to thein, namely. Carrie, widow of the late Noble Moss, and who 
now lives on a part of tlie homestead. By his marriage with Betsey Mead 
Mr. Whitehead was the fatlier of seven children, namely: Mary, who mar- 
ried Francis Nichols, a carpenter, and both are now deceased; Jennie, the 
wife of C. F. Marsh, whose occupation is farming and fruit evaporating; 
Charley, a carpenter by trade, and a successful superintendent, having served 
the Bickford & Hoofman Grain Drill Company for a period ot twenty-nine 
years, dying in their employ; (leorge William, a fanner of Union township 
near the home place; Matilda, wife of Charles Slater, whose sketch appears 
elsewhere; Frank B., the subject of this review, and Estella, who married 
Henry Ellsworth and li\ ed at Rapid City, this state. lx)th being now dead. 

Frank B. Whitehead was born November 7. 1857, in Wayne county. 
New York, and came to Michigan with his parents when ten years of age. 
He remained at home until twenty years old and at intervals in the mean- 
time attended the public schools. When strong enough to be of service in 
the woods and fields, lie was put to work and in the clearing and developing 
of the farm in Isabella county he faithfully and energetically bore his part. 
At the age of seventeen, he worked as a farm hand for several of the neigh- 
bors, and three years later accepted a clerkship with the Daugherty mercan- 
tile firm, which position he held during the five years ensuing. 

About 1 89 1 Mr. Whitehead entered the employ of the Gorham Company 
at Mt. Pleasant, and remained with the firm during the ensuing seventeen 
years, first as foreman, and subsequently as superintendent, in addition to 
the duties of the latter position, also buying and selling timber lands, send- 
ing as superintendent about fi\ e years. Severing his connection with the firm, 
he went to the Pacific coast, where he spent two years buying timber lands, 
principally in Oregon, but at the expiration of that time returned to Mt. 
Pleasant and again engaged with the Gorham Company, whose yard work, 
manufacturing, purchasing of timl)er. mill supplies, etc.. he has managed 
since the fall of 1909. being at this time general superintendent of the busi- 
ness with an average of one hundred and thirty men under liini. a number 
which during busy season is not infrequently increased to two hundred. 
Mr. Whitehead possesses executive ability of a high order, as is demonstrated 
by the manner in which lie manages important trusts and the responsible 
position which he now holds with one of the largest concerns of tiie kind 
in the central i)art of the state indicates his faithfulness as well as efficiency 
as a man of mature judgment, keen sagacity and wise foresight. By making 
his firm's interests his own and never losing sight of the rights and privileges 
of his subordinates, he has gained the unbounded confidence of his employers. 



412 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

while his courteous and gentlemanly treatment of those under him have 
won their loyalty and friendship and bound them to him as with bands of 
steel. 

In his political faith Mr. Whitehead supports the Republican party, but 
has never posed as a partisan or seeker after the honors or emoluments of 
office. He has served on the cit}- board and board of public works, in both 
of which capacities he labored zealously for the interests of the municipality 
and was instrumental in bringing about a number of improvements which 
have been highly prized by the public. Fraternally, he is identified with the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is also a member of the Masonic 
order of Mt. Pleasant. 

Mrs. Whitehead, who prior to her marriage was Faithful McClure, was 
reared in Ohio, and is a lady of beautiful life and character, well fitted to be 
the wife of the enterprising man w Ikjsc name she bears and honors. One 
son has blessed their union, Roy Brooks Whitehead, who was graduated from 
the Central State Normal School at Mt. Pleasant, and is now principal of 
the public schools of Lakeview, this state. 



EUDELMER E. WILLIE. 

E. E. Willie, superintendent of buildings and grounds of the Central 
State Normal School at Mt. Pleasant, and for manv vears a leading citizen 
of the various localities in which he has resided, is a native of New York and 
a son of William and Mary (Hosmer) Willie, the foniier born September 8. 
1 8 19, in New York City, the latter in Niagara county, that state, in the year 
1847. The father departed this life November 23, 1902. while the mother, 
who is still living, is spending the evening of her life at Mt. Pleasant, where 
she has a large circle of friends who ])rize her f(ir her man\- estimable quali- 
ties of mind and heart. 

Eudelmer E. Willie, who was born in Niagara county. New York, on 
the 8th day of December, 1850, attended the public schools in his youth and 
later pursued his studies for some time in a country academy. Leaving his 
native county in the fall of 1871, when twenty-one years old, he came to 
Shiawassee, Michigan, where he taught school the following winter and in 
the spring went to Genesee county, this state, where he also devoted the 
winter months to educational work. The next spring found him in Faj-well, 
Clair county, where he remained until his marriage, which was solemnized in 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICIIIGAX. 4I3 

the county of Genesee. June lo, 1873. ^^''''^ Emma Knickerbocker, whose birth 
occurred in Xew York state on tlie 4th day of October, 1856. 

After spending the summer of 1873 in Genesee county, Mr. Willie, the 
following fall, came to Isabella county and settled in section 7, Vernon town- 
ship, where he bought eighty acres of land which he at once proceeded to 
improve and culti\ate. tlie nu-anwliik' dcxnting his spare time to carpentry, 
which trade he had previously learned and which for some years he had carried 
on in connection with teacliing. In due time he cleared up his land and de- 
veloped a good farm, later purchasing other real estate in the vicinity and 
during his residence of nine years in N'ernon township he prospered as a 
mechanic and tiller of the soil besiiles ac(|uiring considerable reputation as 
a teacher. .\t the expiration of the period indicated he was made superintend- 
ent of the county poor farm, which pcjsition he held during the ensuing 
twelve years, the meanwhile, as opportunities afforded, working on his own 
land and adding to its improvement and value. Resigning the above post 
at the end of his twelve years of efficient service, he returned to his own 
fami where he followed the \()catinn of agriculture for a ])eriod of se\en 
years and then rented the place and remo\ed to Mt. Pleasant, and one year 
later became superintendent of buildings and grounds of the Central State 
Normal School, at Mt. Pleasant, which responsible position he now holds. 

In his present cajjacitx'. Mr. Willie has charge of all the buildings of 
the institution with which he is connected and looks after the grounds, which 
he sees are kept in condition as is required by the state, inspects all contracts 
for work and repairs on the premises, besides making all necessary incidental 
purchases and exercising supervision oxer the janitors. 

While a resident of \'ernon township, Mr. Willie sened three years as 
supervisor of the same, and for a like period was superintendent of the 
schools of that jurisdiction. He keeps in touch with the trend of modern 
thought on all matters of interest, is fully abreast of the times on the leading 
questions of the day. and takes broad and liberal views of political issues, 
although a Republican and firm in his con\ictions and opinions. As a man 
and citizen, he has always stood high in the community in which he lixed. 
and those who know him best speak in high praise of his many qualities and 
sterling worth. 

Mrs. Willie is the daughter of .Xndru.s and Mary (Bander) Knicker- 
lx)cker. natives of the state of New York, the former born October i . iSj^, the 
latter on the 22nd of June, 1834. Mrs. Knickerbocker died January 24, 1906, 
and her husband, who survived her, is living at the present time in the city 
of Mt. Pleasant. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Willie include the following 



414 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

children: Alma, born May 30, 1875, is a teacher by profession, now holding 
an important position in the schools of Washington; she was a member of the 
first life class graduated from the Central State Normal and has achieved 
signal success in her chosen calling. Iva, who was born June 30, 1878, 
married Abe Vogel and lives in Montana. Stanley, bom July 13, 1882, 
married Mary Park and is now a contractor and builder in Idaho. Glenn, 
whose birth occurred on the 17th of April, 1885, is unmarried and for some 
years has been living in San Francisco, California. Fay, the seventh in order 
of birth, is now pursuing her studies in the high school of Mt. Pleasant. 
All the above offspring have enjoyed excellent educational advantages and are 
intelligent and well fitted for the spheres of life in which they are engaged 
or for which they are preparing. They have tried to keep untarnished the 
family escutcheon and thus far their conduct has been a credit to the hon- 
orable name bequeathed to them by a long line of ancestors. 



CHARLES D. PULLEN, M. D. 

The subject of this sketch, a leading physician of Mt. Pleasant, is a 
native of Allegan county, Michigan, born in the village of Allegan on the 
20th (lay of August, 1864, being a son of a farmer and merchant who moved 
to that part of the state a number of years ago from Wayne county. New 
York. After receiving his preliminary education in the schools of his native 
town, the subject completed the high school course in 1887. Being the oldest 
of the family, he was early obliged to contribute to the general support of 
his parents and the younger children, accordingly, while still a mere youth, 
he made himself familiar with the mercantile business and a little later could 
do almost a man's work at any kind of outdoor labor. Actuated by a desire 
to improve his education, he worked among his neighbors for means to 
prosecute the same and when sufficiently advanced in his studies, engaged 
in teaching, which calling he followed for several winter seasons in the rural 
districts of Allegan county. While thus engaged, he yielded to a desire of 
long standing by taking up the study of medicine in the State University at 
Ann Arbor, which institution he attended until completing the prescribed 
course in 1892. receiving, on June 30th of this year, the degree of M. D. 
from the College of Homeopathy. 

After his graduation Dr. Pullen located at Mt. Pleasant, where in due 
time he built up a large and lucrative practice, which he still commands, being 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 41^ 

at this time one of the best known nicchcal men of the city, willi much more 
than local repute as a skillful physician and sur^^eon. Like others of his 
school, he has to contend with the prejudices of older practitioners, but his 
success compelled them to acknowledge his abilities and he now commands 
the respect and confidence of the medical fraternity of the city as well as of 
the general public. By a courteous, manly deportment, and by the gentle- 
ness and skill with which he treats his patients, he has greatly extended the 
area of his professional business and today occupies a conspicuous place among 
the leading physicians of the county besides standing high as an enterprising, 
public spirited citizen. 

Doctor Pullen has availed himself of every laudable means to add to 
his professional efficiency, including post-graduate courses in the cities of 
Chicago and New York, where he profited by the instruction of some of the 
ablest medical men of the day. He also belongs to the countv, state and 
American medical associations and keeps in close touch with their delil>era- 
tions. A close and critical student, who believes in the honor of his calling, 
he has labored conscientiously to make himself a true healer, and, being in 
the prime of life with vigorous mentality, his many friends predict for him 
a bright and promising career in the future. 

Doctor Pullen was married. October 12, i8q2. to Clara L. French, of 
Otsego, Allegan county, this state, who has borne him two children, Dwight 
French, an intelligent and manly youth of fourteen, and Marian Clarice, 
who is five years of age. In addition to his general professioml duties. 
Doctor Pullen has been medical attendant of the Indian Industrial School at 
Mt. Pleasant, and for five years served as secretary of the United States 
pension examining board at Mt. Pleasant. Aside from his profession, he 
is interested in whatever makes for the material prosperity of his city and 
county, takes an active part in all measures for the general welfare of his 
fellow men and meets his every responsibility as one who knows his duty 
and. "knowing, dares maintain." 



WARNER CHURCHILL. 

This well-known retired farmer and business man and ex-soldier is among 
the many substantial citizens of Michigan whose birth occurred under another 
than the flag for whose honor he rendered such faithful and valiant service. 
Warner Churchill was bom January 11, 1841, in Prescott. Ontario, and at 



41 6 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

the age of five was lirought to Oakland county, Micliigan, wliere he grew to 
maturity, spending the years of his childhood and youth in the village of 
Orion and Oxford. His father heing a merchant, the lad went into the store 
at an early age and continued Ijehind the counter until the former's death, 
which occurred when Warner was about seventeen years old. He then 
began working as a farm hand and a little later found employment in a saw- 
mill at Greenville, to which place he went in 1859, the year after his father 
died. In 1861, with the spirit of patriotism which animated so many young 
men throughout the North, he entered the service of his country to assist in 
putting down the rebellion, enlisting in a company recruited from the coun- 
ties of Whitewater, Lake and W^ashtenaw for the Third Michigan Cavalry 
under Colonel Misener. 

Shortly after his enlistment Mr. Churchill accompanied his command 
to Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, thence the following year to the scene of 
conflict in Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and other 
states. He was with his regiment throughout all of its \-aried experience of 
campaign and battle, took part in the action at Island No. 10 and various 
other engagements and participated in the ill-fated Red River expedition 
under General Banks, during which he realized in all of its significance the 
meaning of war. Later he was at the fall of Mobile and at the close of the 
war marched back to Baton Rouge, thence overland via Shreveport, to San 
Antonio, Texas, and on to the Mexican border during the anticipated trouble 
with Mexico in i860, on account of the French invasion. In March of the 
latter year he was mustered out at San Antonio, and sent back to Jackson for 
his discharge, receiving which, he returned to Montcalm county, Michigan, 
and, locating six miles north of Greenville, began clearing a farm from the 
hea\y woodland of that section of country. 

During the four years ensuing Mr. Churchill worked hard, removing the 
forest growth and getting his land in condition for tillage and some idea 
of the extent of his labors may be obtained from the fact that by the end of 
that time he had one hundred acres in cultivation, besides making a number 
of improvements. He did much of his farming in partnership with Henry 
Harris, his brother-in-law, and in 1873 the two came to Mt. Pleasant and 
joined the latter's brother, William Harris, in operating the grist mill at 
that place. 

Mr. Churchill bought an interest in the mill which he still owns, although 
he remained in the business as a partner but four years. During that time 
the firm did a very thriving business and became widely known on account 
of the superior quality of their brands of flour, which always commanded 



ISABELLA COUNTY; MICHIGAN. 417 

the highest market prices. Retiring at the expiration of the period indi- 
cated, Mr. Churchill has since resided in Mt. Pleasant, wliere he has a beau- 
tiful home, with a full complement of conveniences and comforts, and is 
now well situated to enjoy the many material blessings which have come to 
him as a result of his labors and the judicious management of his business 
interests. He has been acti\e in municipal affairs and was largely instru- 
mental in bringing about the incorporation of Mt. Pleasant, his efforts in the 
mo\ement leading to his election as the first mayor of the city, which office 
he resigned after a short time. He also served as supervisor of the village 
prior to its being incorporated, and for several years represented his ward in 
the citv council, where he was intiuentia! in promoting nuich important munic- 
ipal legislation. In politics lie is a Democrat and in religion a Methodist, 
being a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church in Mt. Pleasant. 
Fraternally he belongs to Wabano Post No. 250, Grand Army of the Republic, 
in which he now holds the office of post commander, and his name also adorns 
the records of the Knights of Pythias, Knights Templar and Maccabees, in 
the city where he resides. 

The marriage of Mr. Churchill was solemnized on the 25th day of Feb- 
ruary. tSCh, while he was at home on a furlough, with Sarah Harris, sister 
of William, John and Henry Harris, esteemed citizens of Isabella county, 
who are mentioned elsewhere in tliese pages, the union being without issue. 



VAA L. FERRIS. 



The subject of this sketch, an hunored representative of one of the early 
pioneer families of Isabella county, has been a life-long resident of Union 
township, having been born cm the farm where he now lives .\ugust 29. 1864. 
George .\. Ferris, his father, a native of Broome county, Xew York, was 
l)oni Xovember 18, 1835, and at the age of twenty he came to Michigan 
and spent the four years ensuing at Saginaw, where he achieved considerable 
reputation as a carpenter and Imildcr. At the ex])irati(iu of the i)eriod in- 
dicated he caiue u]) the Chippewa river by canoe to Isalwlla county, being 
accompanied by five Indians who carried provisions through the woods to 
the place where Mr. I'erris had previously decided to make a settlement. 
Leaving the river, he was obliged to cut a path through the dense forest to 
his destination, on reaching which he and the Indians hastily constructed 
four rude sheds or wigwams lor the accommodation of the latter, after which, 
(27) 



4l8 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

with their assistance, he proceeded to erect a simple log cabin for himself 
and family. This, according to the most reliable information obtainable, was 
doubtless the first permanent settlement in what is now Union township, Mr. 
Ferris taking possession of his land merely as a squatter, as this part of the 
state at that time was not subject to entry. In 1862, when the homestead 
act became a law, he laid claim to the quarter section of land which his son 
now owns, paying one dollar per acre as the fee for recording the entry. 

Addressing himself to the task of its improvement, Mr. Ferris worked 
early and late in all kinds of weather, subjecting himself to many hardships 
and privations in order to establish a home for himself and those dependent 
upon him. In due season his labors were rewarded and the farm which he 
developed from the wilderness was long a landmark, later becoming one of 
the finest and most desirable farms in the township. After a strenuous 
life, during which he made a comfortaljle liume and accumulated a competency, 
this brave pioneer and estimable citizen was called from the scene of his 
lalxjrs and triumphs, dying in June, 1881, at the age of forty-six years. 

Susan Miser, wife of George A. Ferris, was born in Wayne county, 
Ohio, March 4, 1835, '^"'^1 departed this life in Isabella county, Michigan, in 
October, 1897. The children of this excellent couple, four in number and 
all living, are as follows: Laura A., born February 13, 1863, married 
Walt Ferris and resides in the state of Washington; Eli L., the subject of 
this review, is second in order of birth ; George Irving, born October 16, 
1865, married Frances Sangster and lives in Alberta, Canada; Nettie E., 
the youngest of the family, was born April 22, 1870, and is now the wife 
of Albert Hany and makes her home in Midland county, this state. 

As indicated in a preceding paragraph, Eli L. Ferris first saw the light 
of day in the family homestead where he now resides and his earlv life in- 
cluded the experience common to the majority of lads reared amid the active 
duties of the farm. As soon as old enough to be of service he was put to 
work in the woods and fields and it was not long until he became an expert 
axman as well as an efficient helper at all kinds of manual lalxjr required 
to clear the land and fit it for cultivation. While thus engaged he attended, 
as opportunities afforded, the public schools of Union township, and in due 
time acquired a fair knowledge of the common branches, this training, sup- 
plemented by reading and intelligent observation in later years, making him 
one of the well informed men of the community. Having a predilection for 
the soil, he early decided to devote his life to agriculture and that he has suc- 
ceeded in this laudable endea\^or is attested by the fine farm which he now 
owns and the prominent place to which he has attained among the representa- 
tive men of his calling throughout Isabella county. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 419 

In ig04 -Mr. l*"erri.s lurncd his land u\er tu oilier liands and niu\e(l to 
Ml. ricasant, Inil. after a residence of four years in that city, yielded to a 
strong desire to resume as^ricullural ])ursuils hy returning to the farm where 
he has since followed his chosen vocation with most gratifying results. In 
connection with tilling the soil, he is also ([uite largely interested in the rais- 
ing of fine live stock, devoting especial attention to Holstein cattle, with which 
high grade animals he has stocked a very successful dairj-. the proceeds from 
which form no small part of his income. .Xmong the various impro\ements 
he has made from time to time is the tine commodious barn, thirty hy thirtv- 
two feet in dimensions and well adapted to all the purposes for which such 
structures are used, his other buildings being up to date and in excellent 
repair, his fencing first class and everything on the premises bespeaking the 
energy and oversight of a pro])rietor who understands his vocation and stands 
high among the leading men of tlie same in his i)ai-t of ihc state. 

Mr. Ferris is a Republican in politics, but not a partisan in the sense of 
seeking office or aspiring to leadership, although he has filled with credit 
various local positions of trust, having served as commissioner of his town- 
ship and discharged the duties of the same with credit to himself and to 
the satisfaction of all concerned. I'ratcrnallv. he is identified with the 
Knights of Maccabees, Lodge Xo. 129, and Grange No. 814, and, religiously, 
.subscribes to the creed of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which body his 
family also belong. 

Mary Lowe, who became the wife of Mr. Ferris in 1890. bore him two 
children. Bessie Mae and George. Ixith deceased Mrs. Ferris died March 
4, 1901. .Mr. l-"erris" second marriage was solemnized on July 3, 1904, with 
Mrs. Ida M. (Miser) Struble, the union being without issue. By her pre- 
vious marriage Mrs. Ferris has two children. Coral L. and Gertrude M. Struble, 
the former born March 12, 1887, the latter on the 13th of November, 1895, 
both being nienibers of the home circle. 



JAMES DAVIS. 



Few if any men are as widely known throughout Michigan and other 
states of the central and northwestern part of the union as the gentleman 
whose career is briefly sketched in the following lines. In the business en- 
terprise with which he was formerly identified he controlled the markets in 
the northern part of the L^nited States and Canada and since engagi?ig in his 



420 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

present undertaking his name has become a household word among horse 
dealers throughout the entire country. Like so many of the substantial 
citizens of Michigan, Mr. Davis is a Canadian, having been born in Oxford 
county. Ontario, on the 27th day of December. 1847. At the age of nine 
years he moved with his parents to Huron county, in the same province, 
where he remained until nineteen years of age, working on a farm the mean- 
while and during the last four years devoting a part of his time to the manu- 
facture of staves. 

At the e.xpiration of the period indicated young Davis went to Door 
county, Wisconsin, whither his parents soon followed him, and during the en- 
suing four years dealt in cedar fence posts, working by the job. Being con- 
vinced of the feasibility of the stave business if conducted upon a somewhat 
extensive scale, he left Wisconsin at the end of four years and, going to 
Tuscola county. IMichigan, engaged in the manufacture of staves in 1872, in 
partnershi]! with his brother, Michael Da\-is. the firm thus constituted lasting 
one rear when the business was divided and the subject continued in the 
same line. After continuing one year longer at that place, he moved to 
Saginaw. ]\lichigan. where during the six years ensuing he built up a very 
extensive trade and became widely known as one of the leaders of that line 
of business in the state \Miile thus engaged he employed upon an average 
of one hundred and fifty men during the winter months and for awhile manu- 
factured more staves of the Canada pipe kind than all the other firms combined 
in the entire Northwest. In 1878 he mo\ed his plant to Mt. Pleasant where 
he continued the business with marked success for ten years, making thirteen 
cnnsecuti\e years in an enteqjrise in which he had little competition and which 
returned him a fortune of no small magnitude. In the meantime he turned his 
attention to farming which lie carried on for several years in connection with 
his manufacturing interests, graduall}- drawing the latter to a close in order to 
give his attention to another and entirely different kind of enterprise. 

In the year 1888 ^Ir. Davis discontinued the stave business and, in part- 
nership with F. J. ^IcCrae. began dealing in fine blooded horses, but at the 
end of two years the firm was dissolved and since that time the subject has 
been in the business alone. He owns a valuable farm of three hundred and 
sixtv acres in Deei-field townshii). where lie keeps his horses, devoting special 
attention to the Percheron breed, in the raising and handling of which he 
has met with success such as few horsemen attain. At one time he had 
nine fine stallions, which represented a large amount of capital, seven being 
kept on the road, and the number of high grade animals on his farm varies 
from fortv to fifty head, which he disposes of at fancy prices. While de- 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 421 

voting special allciui<.)n to I'cicheruiis. he raises aiul handles various breeds 
of heavy draft horses, the demand for which he sometimes experiences con- 
siderable difficulty in supplying. He has exhibited his animals at various 
horse, county and state fairs and wherever shown they invariably have taken 
the first prizes, four successive medals from as many state fairs indicating 
the character and standing of his horses and his own reputation as one thor- 
oughly conversant with the Ijusiness. 

Mr. Davis is a wide-awake man of sound, practical intelligence and ma- 
ture judgment and his efficiency in the business to which his talents are being 
devoted has given him an honorable reputation among the leading horse 
breeders of the United States. His farm is visited by dealers and buyers 
from all parts of the country and such is the high reputation of his animals 
that he invariabh^ gets his own price and that, too. without overmuch dis- 
cussion or debate. While in his former business he led all competitors and 
during the interim between 1880 and 1885 controlled the stave market at 
Quebec, manufacturing and shipping more staves than all others combined. 
In a single year he shipped as many as seven vessels of staves to the European 
markets, and there, as on this side of the Atlantic, was known as the greatest 
of American stave makers. All of his enterprises ha\e proven successful 
and he is today one of the financially solid men of his county and state, and as 
a citizen exhibits the spirit and interest in public and general afifairs which 
characterize the natural leader of men. Personally, he is held in high esteem 
and wherever known his name is synonymous with fair and honorable deal- 
ing and his character and reputation ha\e e\er been above reproach. In 
his own community his influence, which is acknowledged by all, has had 
much to do in moulding and directing opinion not only in business circles, 
but in matters of general interest and it is a com[)liment worthily bestowed 
to class him with the noted men of his day and generation in the city of his 
residence. 

Mr. Davis is a Democrat and, while well informed on the leading ques- 
tions of the times, his business interests have been such as to prevent him 
taking a very active part in politics. On state and national issues he votes 
in conformity with his party, but in local affairs is indepenaent, giving his 
support to the man best fitted for the ofilice he seeks. Reared a Roman Cath- 
olic, he has ever been a true and loyal son of the mother church, and as 
such has great influence among his parishioners, being a liberal contributor 
to the church at Mt. I'leasant and a leader in its various lines of good work. 

^fr. Da\is' wife was formerly Mary Sweeney, and their marriage has 
been blessed with four children, whose names are as follows: Mary C, a 



422 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

graduate from the Sacred Heart Academy and a singer of considerable note, 
married Dr. William F. Sheehan and lives in New York City, where her 
husband practices dentistiy ; Margaret L.. who also was graduated from the 
above institution and from the normal school at Mt. Pleasant, is unmarried 
and still a member of the home circle: Helen E.. also at home, was a gradu- 
ate from both the above institutions, and is a young lady of fine mind and 
varied culture; Richard J., the youngest of the family, was graduated some 
time ago from the Alt. Pleasant high school and is now pursuing his studies 
;;i the State Central Normal School. 



GEORGE L. GRANGER. 

One of the influential citizens of Isabella county is George L, Granger, 
well-known merchant at Mt. Pleasant. A man of excellent endowments and 
upright character, he has been a valued factor in local affairs and has ever 
commanded uneciuivocal confidence and esteem, Ijeing loyal to the upbuilding 
of his community and e\er \-igilant in his efforts to further the interests of 
his county along material, moral and civic lines. 

Mr. Granger was born in Kent county, Michigan. May 5, 1846. The 
subject's paternal grandfather was born in Scotland and he married in Eng- 
land. They came to America in an early day and their son, ^^'ill^am L, 
father of the subject, was born in Troy. New York, five weeks after his 
parents landed. The subject's maternal grandparents were both bom in 
Londonderry, Ireland, and they, too, emigrated to the United States in an 
early day, and their daughter, Miranda Carr, mother of the subject, was 
born soon after they landed on our shores. When he was only one year old 
his parents moved to Prairieville. Barry county. Michigan, and located on 
a farm. He remained there until 1854 when the family moved to Hastings; 
there he went to school, and there his father was engaged in the mercantile 
business until 1857 when he moved to Charlotte and engaged in the same 
line of business, remaining there until 1862. Then the subject proved his 
mettle and his love of country, although a lad of only fifteen years, by en- 
listing in the Federal army, as a member of Savage's brass band, playing a 
baritone horn, this band being with Custer's cavalry, and he remained in the 
same until it was dispensed with just before the battle of Gettysburg. He 
was then given duty as a clerk, remaining as such until the close of the war. 
He remained in the same line of work after the close of hostilities and was 



ISABKLLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 423 

sent to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and was mustered out of the service on 
June ij, 1865. He tlien went to Cirand Ledge, Michigan, and engaged in 
the mercantile business for four or five years, making a great success there. 
In December. 1S71. lie came to Mt. Pleasant and cnntinued in the mercantile 
business until the present time. His place of business burned in 1876, but, 
nothing daunted, he built again on a more pretentious scale, a two story 
structure. He built his present substantial block in 1876 and has been in his 
present location ever since. He at first handled drugs and groceries alone, 
and while he still handles both lines he has added others. His store is in 
shape like an L and faces Main street and Broadway, drugs being on one 
side and the other entrance is to the groceries. He has a substantial, con- 
venient and well arranged store, three stories high, built of brick, and he 
has a modern and well furnished building, the store being twenty-two by one 
hundred feet. He owns considerable property both in the city and county 
and has been \ery successful as a business man. making a success of whatever 
he turned his attention to. He has always managed well and has made what 
he has unaided and in an honest manner. He is well known throughout 
the county and his trade extends into remote parts of the same. He has 
been in partnership all the while with F. W. Carr, since coming here. Their 
store is always well efjuipped with a carefully selected stock of goods and 
their aim is to give full value received. 

Mr. Granger was married on Februan- 2. 1891, to Emma Loomis. at Mt. 
Pleasant. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Loomis, of Indian 
Mills, as the place was formerlv known. This union has resulted in the 
birth of the following children: Gretchen, born February 10, 1892, is a 
graduate of the local high school and is living at home; Barbara was born 
August 18, 1895, ^"d 'S attending school in Mt. Pleasant. 

Mr. Granger has always done what he could toward helping the institu- 
tions of the county, particularly the normal school, the Indian school, the 
.Ann .Arbor railwav, the Pere Marquette and many smaller enterprises. He 
is a noted follower of Izaak Walton, delighting in fishing, frequently going 
to the best streams in the northern country where the best fish abound. He 
votes politically as he chooses, generally for the man whom he deems worthi- 
est to fill the office sought. Personally he is somewhat reserved and never makes 
a donation to charity or does anything, in fact, for the sake of the notoriety 
it may bring him — indeed, he has always avoided publicity, desiring to do 
what good he could for the sake of doing good alone. He is a very pleas- 
ant and agreeable gentleman at all tinies and ha-^ a bust of warm ])crsonal 
friends, and his large success in the business world is well merited. 



424 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

JACOB NEFF. 

The proud title of self-made man has been fairly and honorably earned 
by the enterprising citizen whose career is briefly sketched in the following 
lines. To begin the struggle of life without capital or the prestige of family 
or friends, to surmount obstacles calculated to hinder and impede our progress, 
and finally to rise superior to all opposing circumstances and reach a condi- 
tion of financial independence in business circles and a position of honor and 
trust in the sphere of citizenship, indicate ability, judgment and initiative 
such as few possess. Jacob Nefl:' is essentially a man of aft'airs, practical in 
all the term implies, and it is with more than ordinary satisfaction that 
the following review of his active and eminently successful life is placed 
upon record, so that others, whose careers are still to be achieved, may imi- 
tate the example which he so worthily affords Mr. Neff was born June 13, 
185 1, in Lorain county, Ohio, where his parents, natives of Alsace, France, 
now Germany, had located some years before and where their respective 
deaths also occurred. When about fourteen years old he came to Ionia 
county, Michigan, where his two older brothers were then engaged in the 
boot and shoe Imsiness and began learning the shoemaker's trade under his 
brother, Louis, with whom he remained three years, receiving for the first 
year four dollars per month, and eight and twelve per month, respectively, 
for the third and fourth years. During the period indicated he became very 
proficient in the work and it was while plying his trade that he also studied 
music and achieved a wide reputation as a skillful violinist. 

Mr. Neff had a natural aptitude for music, as had his brothers, also 
their father, having been a musician in the French army and an accomplished 
player on nearly all kinds of instruments. While in the militarv service he 
taught music to such as desired to learn, and also imparted instruction in 
various languages, having been a linguist of considerable note and able to 
converse fluently in seven tongues. While still a youth. Jacob was able to 
play for dances and other social functions and in this way he added materially 
to his income. Of a thrifty and economical nature, he saved his earnings 
with scrupulous care so that by the end of the third year with his brother 
he had succeeded in lading rside four hundred ninety-nine dollars and ninetv- 
nine cents, a handsome sum to be accumulated by a youtli whose surround- 
ings tended towards extravagance. 

With the above capital young Nefif embarked in the boot and shoe busi- 
ness at Sheridan, Montcalm county, in partnership with his brother, George, 
and it was not long until their store became the leading establishment of the 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 425 

kind in the town. In connection with merchandising they did a thriving 
business, buying and selling all kinds of peltry, furs, hides, etc., and during 
the three or four years spent at Sheridan they accumulated considerable means 
and were among the financially strong men of the place. While living there 
Mr. Xeff. at the age of twenty-four years, was united in marriage with Ruth 
B. McDonald, a native of Pennsylvania, though reared in Ionia, Michigan, 
shortly after which he disposed of his interest in the store and, in partner- 
ship with his brothers, John and Louis, bought the Glenn lumber mill, which 
they moved from Sheridan to 2^1cBride, in the same county, and engaged 
in the manufacture of lumber and shingles. Purchasing three hundred and 
sixty acres of timber land in the vicinity of the town. tJie XelT brothers 
began operations and in due time built up an extensive lumber business, buy- 
ing land the meanwhile and purcliasing limber from various parties. Dur- 
ing the twelve years they remained at McBride the firm sawed all the timber 
from a large area of territory and in addition thereto also did a large and 
lucrative business manufacturing shingles, which in time became their chief 
interest. They sold nearly all the latter product in Xew York, Pennsyl- 
vania, and other eastern markets, gave employment to an average of about 
twenty-three or twenty-four men and soon forged to the front among the 
leading shingle makers of the state. 

The Neff brothers embarked in the lumber business with a capital of 
eight thousand dollars and at tlie expiration of the period indicated, w-ith a 
surplus considerably in excess of one hundred thousand dollars, they closed 
out. With no previous experience, they successfully did business alongside 
of old lumbermen, who failed and who frequently predicted the same fate 
for them, l)Ut they owed their success to the persistency with which they 
pushed their Ijusiness and by always looking on the bright side. The sub- 
ject made several judicious investments in real estate, a part of which was 
a fine farm of one hundred sixty acres on which he erected good buildings 
and made various other improvements. He li\o(l in this place until 1891, 
when, desiring better educational advantages for his children, be moved to 
Mt. Pleasant, where be has since resiilcd. Since taking up his residence 
in the above city, Mr. Neff has de\oted ins attention very largely to real 
estate, which, like his other enterprises, proved quite successful. He has 
purchased and improved several city properties, erecting four neat modern 
dwellings, besides other buildings, and among his various holdings are two 
store buildings in Mt. Pleasant and two fine farms of eighty acres each, one 
two miles east, the other three miles southeast of town, a third farm of 
eighty acres in Mt. Pleasant township, one of two hundred and forty acres in 



426 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

the township of Nottawa, and a tract of three hundred and twenty acres on the 
St. Louis river, in the state of Minnesota. In addition to these large and 
important interests, he is also actively engaged in agriculture and stock rais- 
ing, giving special attention to the Ijreeding of high grade Holstein cattle 
and other blooded stock, and realizing handsome returns from the same. 
He is always in close touch with all of his properties, keeps his various 
buildings in excellent repair and managed his afifairs with the skill and fore- 
sight which lia\e characterized all of his dealings and which have been in- 
strumental in making him the shrewd, broad-minded business man that he is 
today. 

As indicated in a preceding paragraph, Air. Xeff began life a poor boy 
and the success which he lias since achieved shows him the possessor of ability 
and acumen such as few under similar circumstances would have displayed. 
His career, though marked bv continuous ad\ancement. has been eminently 
honorable and praiseworthy and among his neighbors and fellow citizens his 
character is above reproach and his simple word as sacred as a written ob- 
ligation. He has always kept clear of political and public affairs and attended 
strictly to his own business, being independent in the matter of voting and 
never aspiring to the honors of office; nevertheless, he manifests a li\-ely in- 
terest in the welfare of his city and its people, encourages all laudable meas- 
ures for the public good and is ever ready to lend his influence and support 
to better the condition of his fellow men. He is a member of the Masonic 
brntherhood, I^elonging to Edmore Lodge No. 260, aside from which he is 
not identified with any other fraternal or social organization. 

Mr. and Mrs. Neff have four children, the oldest being a son. Norma, 
who married Libbie Demings McKay and is engaged in agricultural pursuits. 
Mildred, the second in order of birth, is the wife of Clarence Spooner, of 
Isabella county. Florence is still with her parents and Walter, the voungest, 
is a married man, doing for himself, his wife having formerly been Helen 
Myers, of this county. 



HENRY G. HARRIS. 



The subject of this sketch, who is now living a life of honorable retire- 
ment in the city of Mt. Pleasant, was born in London, England, September 
9, 1846, and in 1852, when about six years old, came to America with his par- 
ents, ^^'illiam S. and Sarah (Heath) Harris, who settled in ^Montcalm countv, 
Michigan, where the lad spent several ensuing years in close touch with 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 42/ 

nature on a farm. Both of his parents were nati\es of the great city in 
whicii liis birth occurred, tlie father being inikiceil to inunigrate to this country 
in expectation of securing either land or remunerative employment, though 
not at his trade, as he was an expert cork cutter, a calling for which there 
was little demand at that time on this side of the Atlantic. On coming to 
Micliigan. William Harris settled in the woods of Montcalm county and 
spent the remainder of his life cutting out a farm and establishing a home 
for himself and those dependent upon hiuL He did not live, however, to 
enjoy the fruits of his labors, dying two years after securing his land, leav- 
ing a widow and five children, all small and able to contribute but little to 
the support of the family, the oldest being al)out thirteen years of age when 
deprived of a father's care and guidance. 

Actuated by a laudable ambition to make the most of her opportunities, 
the mother took charge of the farm and. the children working with her and to 
each other's interests, the family was kept together and in due time .succeeded 
in getting a fair start in the world. The sons remained on the farm, and 
as soon as old enough attended to the cuhivation of the same, the daughters 
working out the meanwhile and contributing their earnings to a common 
fund. In this way they made substantial progress, and in the course of a 
few years were in comfortable circumstances with well defined plans for 
the future. They built the first mill in 1873 in Mt. Pleasant, which, under 
the tirm name of Harris Brothers, did tlien and has since done a remunerative 
business which added very materially to the general income. 

In the spring of 1873 the Harris family transferred their residence to 
Isabella county, though still retaining the farm in the county of Montcalm, 
the farm being in charge of a brother and a lii-other-in-law by wiioni it has 
been operated with gratifying success, the earnings from the mill alone mak- 
ing all of them practically independent. William Harris is now the miller, 
Henry G., however, being able to take charge of any part of the work, as 
he is a skillful mechanic and faniihar with e\crv pjiase of the milling busi- 
ness, as he is also with tlie pursuit of agriculture Henry G. Harris grew 
up with proper conceptions of life and the duties and responsibilities of man- 
hood and by industry and judicious management has succeeded in accumu- 
lating a sufficiency of this world's goods to enable him to retire and spend 
the remainder of his days in the enjoyment of the ease and comfort which 
he has so nobly earned. He has private interests which require the greater 
part of his time and attention, among which is the raising of ginseng, an 
enterprise in which he ventured a few years ago upon a small scale, but 
which, notwithstanding the limited area of forty by sixty feet on which the 
plants grow, now yield him in excess of three hundred dollars per year. 



428 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Encouraged by such returns, he proposes to engage in the business more ex- 
tensively hereafter and his neighbors and friends are now watching with great 
interest an enterprise which promises such large returns 

Mr. Harris was married April 2, 1874. in ]\Iontcalm county, to Mrs. 
Annie V. Stilwell, a native of Holmes county, Ohio, and the widow of 
Andrew J. Stilwell, an ex-soldier of the Civil war. Prior to her first mar- 
riage she bore the name of Mankin. her parents having come to Michigan 
a number of years ago and settled in the county of Montcalm where she 
grew to womanhood and received her educational training. One child has 
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Harris, a son answering to the name of Alfred 
M., now a lad of twelve years who is pursuing his studies in the city schools. 

In his religious faith Mr. Harris is a Methodist and a zealous worker 
in the church at Mt. Pleasant, as is also his wife, who for five or six years 
has been one of the stewards of the congregation. She is likewise interested 
in all the social functions of the church and good work under the auspices 
of same, is a member of the Woman's Relief Corps and of the Pythian 
Sisters, in both of which societies she has been honored at intervals with 
important official positions. Mr. Harris believes in getting all the legitimate 
enjoyment out of life there is in it, to which end he spends the greater part 
of the winter months in Florida, where in the cpite pursuit of angling he 
finds rest for both body and mind, the summer season usually finding him 
in the northern woods of his own state. 



^MLLIAM CARNAHAN. 

Specific mention is made of many of the worthy citizens of Isabella 
county within the pages of this book, citizens who have figured in the growth 
and de\-elopment of this favored locality and whose interests are identified- 
with its every phase of progress, each contributing in his sphere of action to 
the well being of the community in which he resides and to the advancement of 
its normal and legitimate growth. Among this number is he whose name 
appears above. 

^^Mlliam Carnahan, well known auctioneer and liveryman of Mt. Pleas- 
ant, was born on July 31, 1844, in Caledonia township, Livingston county. 
New York. He is the son of Elijah and Catherine (Dingman) Carnahan, the 
father born in Bath. Steuben county. New York, and the mother in Cato town- 
ship, Allegany county. New York. They were married in Livingston countv. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 429 

New York, and after their marriage spent the balance of their hves in that 
county. The father died in Cleveland. Ohio, in 1902, having survived his wife 
a half a century, licv death liaving occurred in Livingston county, New York, in 
1851. The father was a cooiier by trade and followed this all his life. Three 
children were born to them: Charles died in Andersonville prison in 1863, 
having been captured while a soldier in the Federal army; Mary died in 1850; 
William of this review. 

William Carnahan worked on the home farm until he was seventeen 
years old. He then sliowed his patriotism by enlisting in the Twenty-fourth 
New York Battery, \\hich was formed at Perry, Wyoming count\-. that state, 
his enlistment bearing the date of August 28, 1862. He was un.ler Captain 
Lee. and was in the battles of Xewburn. North Carolina, Kingsl.m. Whitehall. 
Goldsboro, Weldon. Peletier's Mill, Newport and others. He was taken pris- 
oner at Plymouth. North Carolina. April 20. 1864. He was in the Middle 
Department of the Army of North Carolina. He was wounded when captured 
and was taken to Salisbury-, North Carolina, later to prison at Savannah, 
Georgia, also Milan and Andersonville. His brother was capture.l at the same 
time and the two were taken to prison together until the death of the brother, 
already mentioned. This was five months and ten days after they were cap- 
tured. The subject was in prison thirteen months in all. When captured he 
weighed one hundred and seventy-five pounds, and when released his weight 
was eighty pounds, showing that he had undergone great privation. He was 
paroled and later exchanged at Savannah and was given furlough to go home. 
So he returned to New York and was home three months, returning to the 
army in time to take part in the Grand Review in Washington City. He was 
discharged at Syracuse, New York, on July 7. 1865. Later he came to 
Michigan and settled at Hubbardston. Ionia county. In September, 1866, he 
married Nannie Proseus. daughter of Anson and Susan Proseus. She was 
born in 1848. in Sodus, W^iyne countv". New York. The family moved to 
Michigan, and lived for a time in Bloomer. Montcalm county, later at Hub- 
bardston. Ionia county. Mr. Carnahan meeting his wife in the latter place. To 
this union these children were born: Charles, born June 17. 1867. married 
Princie Peak, of Mt. Pleasant, in which city Mr. Carnahan is now assistant 
postmaster: Pearl was born in Hubbardston. Michigan. Mr. Carnahan was 
for several years engaged by a lumber company in Hubl)ardston, tlriving a 
team. He also drove a stage from Pewaumo to Hubbardston and Carson 
City for several years. He conducted a livery barn at Hubbardston. but was 
finallv burned out. He then, in 1888. moved to Mt. Pleasant, buying property 
here and began a livery business in the McDonald barn on Broadway and 



430 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

lived over the barn for eight years. He then purchased the house in whicli 
he now Hves and built a barn ; the former faces Lansing street and the latter, 
whicli is just back of the house, faces Franklin street. He owns both lots and 
both buildings. His barn holds about twenty-five horses, and he is well 
equipped to do a good business. He began auctioneering about thirty years 
ago, in 1880, and he has continued in a very successful manner to the present 
time, and he is widely known, being the principal auctioneer of his county. 
Probably no man in the county is better known. He was deputy sheriff of 
Ionia county for twelve years, and he has been superintendent of the third 
ward in Mt. Pleasant for the past ten years, still holding that office. Politi- 
cally he is a Republican. He belongs to the ]\It. Pleasant post of the Grand 
Army of the Republic, and fraternally he is a member of the Free and Ac- 
cepted Masons at Mt. Pleasant. 



WILLIAM MORGAN TICK. 

The gentleman whose sketch is here submitted is an honored member 
of one of the old and highly esteemed families of Union township, Isabella 
county, and as such is worthy of being represented among the leadings citizens 
of the same. Like many of the substantial yeomanry of central Michigan, he 
is of Canadian birth and first saw the light of day in Dunn\ille, Ontario, 
September 2, 1861. 

His parents, \\'illiam and Elizabeth (Markle) Tice, were reared in 
Canada and remained in the province of Ontario until 1866 when they 
moved to Saginaw county, Michigan, and spent the ensuing nine years carv- 
ing out a home from the wilderness in which they settled. At the expira- 
tion of the period indicated the family moved to Isabella county and located 
on land about one and a half miles west of old Council Room or Indian Mills, 
the place having been an Indian reservation on which but little improx'ement had 
been made. William Tice bought one hundred and twenty acres of this 
land and at once took possession, moving into a little frame shack, fourteen 
by twenty-four feet in dimensions, and containing a single room, quite lim- 
ited quarters for a family of nine members. The nearest neighbors were 
Indians, there being but two white men within a radius of a mile from the 
cabin. These men, a Mr. Loomis and a man by the name of Wait, both 
afterwards died where they originally settled. 

In the fall of 1875 Mr. Tice put in a small crop of wheat and during 



ISABI-XLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 431 

the luUowing winter experienced not a few liar(l^hii)S. owing to the scarcity 
of food and the long distance to the nearest market place, it l)eing eighteen 
miles to Clare and twenty-four to Alma. He made several trips to those 
villages, cutting a road through the woods the greater part of the way and 
encountering many obstacles in other places where the timl)er had been re- 
moved by lumbermen. lea\ ing the branches and portions of tlie trunks oi trees 
in promiscuous confusion. He purchased the first threshing machine ever 
brought to his part of the county, hauling it (ner one of the indefinite roads 
described alxJve, and operated the same until his death, which occurred on 
the i8th of October, 1876, at the age of forty-nine years. 

On the death of their father the two older sons, Byron E. and William 
M.. took charge of the farm on which they worked during the spring and 
summer months, devoting the winter seasons to laljor in the lumber camps. 
During the greater part of the winter lime William remained in the woods, 
Byron and the younger brothers clearing and improving the farm, which in 
due time became one of the best and among tiie luost desirable homes in 
the locality. Mrs. Tice departed this life in the spring of 1893, aged sixty- 
two years. She was a kind and loving mother, an excellent manager, and 
during the years of her widowhood, when she was the head of the family, 
the farm was well tilled and everything connected therewith appeared to 
prosper. 

The early experiences of \\'illiam M. Tice while clearing the home farm, 
working in the woods and mingling with the Indians, were always interest- 
ing and at times quite thrilling. As long as his mother lived he worked for 
her interests and by every means within his power ministered to her comfort, 
proving under all circumstances a true and loyal son, who lost sight of self 
in his efforts to promote the welfare of others. Some time after the death 
of his mother he went to Dakota, in which state and northern Minnesota 
he spent the summers, but inheriting forty acres of the home place he re- 
turned and, taking possession of the same, for some years thereafter devoted 
his attention very closely and successfully to the pursuit of agriculture. Suij- 
sequently he purchased forty additional acres of the homestead, thus making 
a beautiful and improved farm on which he li\ed and prospered until 1901 
when he hired a man to operate his farm and engaged in the ice business 
at Mt. Pleasant, which enterprise he still carries on, the success of which 
having more than met his most sanguine expectations. 

From a modest Ijeginning in the above year, Mr. Tice has greatly en- 
larged the scope of his business, handling at this time about seventeen hun- 
dred tons of ice per year, which affords constant employment to four men 



432 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

and during certain seasons to a much greater number. He furnishes the 
city with an abundant supply of fine, wholesome ice and, his business increas- 
ing with the increase of population, he has been obliged to enlarge the capacity 
of his houses from time to time in order to meet the growing demands of 
his customers. 

Mr. Tice votes with the Republican party and has served two years as 
supervisor of the first ward, though by no means an office seeker. He be- 
longs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of the Maccabees 
and the order of Woodmen, in all of which he is an active and influential 
worker, besides having been honored at different times with important official 
trusts in the dift'erent organizations. 

Mr. Tice was married December 13, 1888, to Ida May Newberry, of 
Midland county, Michigan, the union resulting in the birth of seven children, 
namely : Bertha E., wife of Prof. Lee N. Griggs, a teacher of manual train- 
ing in the Mt. Pleasant high school ; Sophia, Arthur, Ruby, Clara, Joyce, Ida 
and Morgan, all living except Ida, who died when eighteen months old. 

The following are the names of the subject's brothers and sisters in order 
of age: Mary E. married Thomas McCartney and lives in Midland county, 
this state: Murray died at the age of thirty-six; Byron E. lives on a part 
of the family homestead in Union township : William M. of this review is the 
fourth in order of birth; Helena, widow of John Swanson, lives in Nottawa 
township: Levi is a resident of Enimett county, Michigan, and Fred, the 
youngest of the family, lives in the town of Kalkaska, Michigan. 



EZRA S. GORHAM. 



The name of Ezra S. Gorham will be one of the best remembered in the 
histor}' of Isabella county of the present generation for it was long very 
closely associated with her business and financial interests, and although he 
is today numbered among the silent inhabitants of ''God's acre," the good 
he did, his many little acts of kindness and the influence of his wholesome 
life still live and are potent in the lives of many who were associated with him. 

Ezra Gorham was well known as the treasurer of the large firm of the 
Gorham Brothers Company, of Mt. Pleasant. He came of an excellent fam- 
ily of the old Empire state, his birth having occurred in New York in 1848, 
but he was reared in the state of Ohio whither he moved with his parents 
when a child, and he received his education and earlv business training at 




9 




mdm 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 433 

Euclid, in the vicinity uf tlie present great city of Cleveland. He started out 
on a business career early in life, in fact, devoted his manhood years to the 
upbuilding of the present vast business of the firm mentioned abo\e, an 
account of which is given in detail in another part of this work. He took 
up the manufacture of baskets when young and made constant progress in 
this line, joining his brother, Chester R. (jorhani ( wh'isc sketch appears else- 
where), and he put his shoulder to the wheel, whetlier the road was rough 
or smooth, contributing his full share to their joint enterprise, and these two 
brothers pulled together in perfect harmony during all the l)usiness history of 
the firm, and by a very careful application to all the details of the enterprise 
succeeded in gaining a very successful commercial position. 

Ezra S. Gorham continued to reside in Cleveland. Ohio, until 190J. when 
he mo\ed with iiis faniil_\- to Mt. Pleasant, .Michigan, where they have since 
resided, honored and respected by all who knew him. and here his death 
occurred on Thursday, February 17, 1910. 



JOHN KINNEY. 



The gentleman whose name appears above occupies a conspicuous place 
in the business circles of central Michigan, and to him and such as he is 
this part of the state largely indebted for its present advancement and pros- 
perity. For many years identified with the lumbering interests of St. Clair, 
Isabella and other counties, he was instrumental in clearing large areas which 
are now among the finest and most productive agricultural districts in the 
state and he has also been an influential factor in local affairs, as his efforts 
in promoting the material interests of Mt. Pleasant attest. 

John Kinney was born in St. Clair county, Michigan. October 13, 1837, 
being a .son of Arnold and Laura M. Kinney, both natives of Steuben county. 
New York, .\rnold Kinney was born in the year 1804 and came to Michigan 
in 1828, locating in Clyde township. St. Clair county, where he spent the 
remainder of his life as a farmer, dying on the 8th of December, 1872. 
Laura M. Babcock. whose birth occurred in 1810, moved with her parents 
to Monroe county, Michigan, in 1830. and three years later became the wife 
of .Arnold Kinney, with whom she li\e(l in happy wedlock until her death, 
on March 9, 1849. Some time after her demise Mr. Kinney married Mrs. 
Louisa Vincent, of Clyde township, who survived him several vears. 

On coming to Michigan Arnold Kinnev entered the emplov of the gov- 
(28) 



434 



ISABEL.I_\ COLXTY. MICHIGAN". 



emment to assist in the construction of a turnpike road to Fort Gratiot and 
various other roads in different parts of the state. He also purchased land 
in Qvde towTiship which he subsequently cleared and developed into a fine 
farm and from time to time bought other tracts which he cleared and re- 
duced to cultivation. At one time he owned four hundred acres of tillable 
land in a single body which is said to have been the largest farm in the count}' 
of St. Clair at that time. WTiile prosecuting his lumber interests he bought 
a large tract of fine land west of ^It. Pleasant in Isabella count}-, from which 
in due time his son, the subject, cut the timber and reduced the soil to culti- 
vation, it now being mostly sold. He also bought considerable land in other 
parts, including about two thousand acres in the coimt}- of St. Clair, for 
which he paid the government price of one dollar and a quarter per acre, 
for one himdred and sixt\" acres, the balance being secured from other par- 
ties, and which he subsequently sold at a handsome profit, after disposing of 
the timber. 

Arnold Kinney was a man of intelligence, judgment and line business 
capacity and for many years was a leading spirit in the public affairs of the 
county in which he lived. He served thirt>- years as township treasurer, was 
a prominent \\'hig and. when that party ceased to exist, became one of the 
influential Republicans of his part of the countrv". He came to Michigan 
when the greater part of the territon,- was a wilderness, and shonly after his 
arrival engaged to work in a saw mill, but had no money with which to pay 
his board until he could earn it by his labor. In this dilemma he solicited a 
small loan from a friend suflicient to tide him over until pay day. but the re- 
quest was refused. However, he lived to see the day when he could buy and 
sell his former friend a dozen times and then have means to spare, for at his 
death he was one of the wealthiest men of his township as well as one of the 
most influential citizens. The family of Arnold Kinney consisted of seven 
children : Daniel, the oldest, who died at Grand Rapids in 1907. was a leading 
contractor of that city : George, the second in order of birth, died in childhood : 
Tohn. the subject of this review, is the third in number: Charles died some 
years ago in Gyde township. St. Clair county: his widow subsequently be- 
coming a renowned temperance worker in :Michigan and other states, being at 
this time one of the board of managers of the State Girls" School at Adrian, 
though still making her home in Clyde township : Frank lives on the old farm 
in St. Clair county : Chester, the next in succession, lives in Seattle, Washing- 
ton, and Laura, the youngest of the family, married \\illiam Gardner, and 
died near the old Kinney homestead in St. Clair count}-. 

The earlv life of John Kinney was spent in the woods and on the farm 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 435 

atid amid such surrouiKlings he grew up strong antl rugged and well ahle 
to meet the varied experiences wliidi he encountered during the early days in 
the county of his birth. In such schools as the country afforded he obtained 
the rudiments of an education and later, in the stern scliool of practical life, 
learned lessons of much greater import than those acquired witiiin the walls 
of college or university. His first visit to lsal)el]a county was in i<S54, at the 
age of seventeen years, wlicn he Inoked over the timlier. lie early turned 
his attention to lumbering, then as now the leading industrial interest of the 
state, and in i860 began the business upon his own responsibility in his native 
township. After operating there for a period of three years he came to Isa- 
bella county to lumber off the land which his father had purchased nine years 
])efore. a part of which now adjoins the city of Mt. Pleasant. With the assist- 
ance of ten men. during the years of 1863-4 he cut all the timber on the land 
worth sawing and in the meantime reduced a goodly portion of the land to 
culti\ation. In the latter year he bought a stock of goods which he stored 
in the dwelling of one Henrv Duncan, which stood on the corner now occupied 
by the Exchange Bank, this Ijeing the first mercantile enterprise in Mt. Pleas- 
ant. In the .same year the "Blunt" postoffice, four miles to the south, was 
transferred to the village with Mr. Kinney as postmaster, although the orig- 
inal name was retained until changed to Mt. Pleasant by the government some 
years later. 

Mr, Kinney's mercantile venture was highly ])rized by the .settlers in 
the \illage and vicinity and proved fairly .successful. Tn assist him in his 
two-fold duties of merchant and postmaster, he appointed Wilson Moser. at 
that time county treasurer, also the first lawyer to locate in Mt. Pleasant, as 
his deputy, and Cass Moser, a son of the latter, became his assistant in the 
store. 

In the spring of 1865 Mr. Kinney sold his stock of goods to Xelson Bab- 
bitt and returned to his farm in St. Clair county where he resumed lumljering 
cutting timber within one mile of the present tunnel under St. Clair river and 
doing a very profitable business. The land on which he operated was very 
heavily timbered, most of which was cut full length and used in the construc- 
tion of rafts, an enterprise wliicli ])rove(l highly rcnnuierative. He continued 
in the vicinity of Port Huron until 1887, but in the meantime, about the vear 
1872. began lumbering seven miles west of Mt. Pleasant, in Deerfield town- 
ship, on land which his father had previously purchased, also operated on the 
Chip])e\va river, near which he liad a fine body of timl)er. and for three win- 
ters did a thriving business on the .\u Sable. In connection with lumbering, 
Mr. Kinney, during the year 1877. got out ship spars, which he shipjjed by 



436 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

rail to Port Huron, and wliich. like his other enterprises, proved signally suc- 
cessful from a financial point of view. 

Returning to Mt. Pleasant in 1877. Mr. Kinney laid out an addition to 
the town, consisting of eighty acres, and seven years later platted a second 
addition, disposing of the lots at good prices, but on easy terms to tiiose desir- 
ing homes. Still later, 1904, in partnership with Dr. P. Richmond, a third 
addition was platted, which pro\'ed a great impetus to the growth of the town, 
many of the lots finding ready purchasers. Mr. Kinney erected quite a num- 
ber of buildings on the above additions which he sold to homeseekers, but in 
the main he disposed of the lots without making improvements and realized 
liberal profits on his sales. In 1887 he erected his present imposing brick 
dwelling in Mt. Pleasant, v.hich with his varied other improvements, has 
added greatly to the beauty of the city and made it one of the most attractive 
places of residence in the state. Mr. Kinney is one of the men who have done 
much to promote the material prosperity of the town, and he will always be 
remembered as one of the greatest and most liberal benefactors. From the 
time it was an insignificant country village he prophesied its future growth as 
an important commercial and business center, and to this end he contributed 
freely of his means and influence, and, as already stated, he is today recog- 
nized as one of the founders of the city as well as one of the most enterprising 
citizens. 

Though still engaged in lumbering, Mr. Kinney of recent years has lim- 
ited his enterprise to a considerable extent, his large interests in various parts 
of the state being managed by others, although he keeps in touch with his busi- 
ness and familiar with the doings of all in his employ. He owns a large 
amount of real estate, much of which is improved, and fine farm land. He has 
two hundred and eighty acres of the five hundred-acre tract which he formerly 
owned in Wise township, two hundred acres in St. Clair county and his son 
owns the old homestead in Clyde township where he was born and reared. 
In addition to the above, he has investments in a number of enterprises and 
utilities, and is not only one of the financially solid men of his own city and 
county, but also ranks among the wealthy men of the central part of the state. 

As already indicated, Mr. Kinney has been influential in public matters 
ever since becoming a resident of Mt. Pleasant, and during the jiast thirty 
years he has not been without an office of some kind. In 1888 he was elected 
village president and township supervisor, and for more than a quarter cen- 
tury served as a member of the local school board, during which time he did 
much to advance the cause of education in the town, in recognition of which 
service the Kinnev school was so named in his honor. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 437 

When the question of incorporating Mt. Pleasant came liefore the peo- 
ple he took an active part in favor of tlic measure and to liini as much as to 
any one man is due the credit of obtaining a charter and eslahlishing a city 
government. In his political views Mr. Kinney was originally a Republican 
and cast his ballot for Lincoln. In 1872 he voted for Horace Greeley, since 
which time he has Ijeen somewhat independent, though of recent years has 
generally given his support to the Democracy. At one time he was a candi- 
date for countv treasurer, liut suffered defeat with the rest of the ticket and 
later was honored Ijy a noniiuation for Congress in St. Clair ccjunty by tlie 
Greenbackers, in which race he was also unsuccessful. 

Mr. Kinney was married, July 31. 1858, to Margaret \V. .Vtkins. whose 
birth occurred in Glasgow. Scotland, on the 14th day of September, 1838. 
Five children have been born of this union, namely: .Vrnold, who lives on 
the home farm in St. Clair county ; Nettie (deceased) was the wife of William 
Stevens, of ,Mt. Pleasant : Laura, formerly a teacher in the scliools of St. 
Clair county and Mt. Pleasant, was graduated from the Central State Xormal 
and Yspsilanti Xormal and is now living at Providence, Rhode Island : Bertha 
L. married W. E. Lewis, of Mt. Pleasant, and lives with her father; Marion 
is the wife of Dr. George \'an Ben Scboten, a practicing physician in the city 
of Providence. Rhode Island. In addition to the above children. Mr, Kinney 
had an adopted son. Lester Haley, wlioni he took at the age of ten and to 
whom he devoted the same attention and care that he bestowed upon his own 
ofYspring. Lester was quite an intelligent youth and made ra])id progress in 
his studies, being graduated from the Mt. Pleasant high school when liut seven- 
teen years old. He was given a position in the eighth grade of the city 
schools and taught one year when a promising career was cut short by his 
being drowned. He was in the river with several of his comrades and getting 
beyond his depth, sank before he could be rescued. 



ROBERT C-. WAR DROP. 

An active and successful career has brought the subject of this sketcii 
prominently before the public and few men of central Michigan are as widely 
known in business circles as he. Robert C. Wardrop is a native of Hastings 
countv. Ontario, where his birth occurred on b'ebruary 17, 1856. lieing a son 
of William and Fortune (Todd) Wardrop. both parents born in Scotland. 
William Wardrop immigrated to Canada a number of years ago and settled 



438 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

in Hastings county, Ontario, wliere he lived nntil the gold excitement in Cali- 
fornia, when he bade farewell to his family and went to seek his fortune in 
that far-away delusive land. This was in 1856, the year prior ti) the birth of 
the subject, and a little later he was killed in the mining region, where his botly 
now rests in an unmarked grave. 

Robert C. W'ardrop spent his early life in his native province and at the 
age of thirteen accompanied his mother and step-father, Richard Waters, to 
Washtenaw county, ^Michigan, where the family lived for one year, at the ex- 
piration of which they moved to Clinton county and settled on a tract of wild 
land, which in due time was cleared and rendered fit for tillage. Young 
Robert did his share of the hard work necessary to the development of the 
farm from the wilderness and, while still young, became expert with the ax, 
later growing up to the full stature of strong, well-developed manhood and 
well fitted for the duties which fell to him as a woodsman and tiller of the soil. 
Like a dutiful son, he remained at home assisting his parents until his twenty- 
fifth year, but in the meantime, on attaining his majority, he purchased land of 
his own adjoining the famih- homestead, which he afterward farmed for him- 
self. This was also new land and much lalior was required to reclaim it. 
After holding it for some years and making various improvements, he sold 
the place and bought other land in the same township, where he helped clear 
a second farm from the woods. Disposing of the latter in 1881, he discon- 
tinued agricultural pursuits and in the fall of that year opened a li\er_\' barn 
at Fowler, Clinton county, where he soon built up a very satisfactory business. 
At the expiration of four years, he sold his establishment at the above town 
and came to Mt. Pleasant, where, in partnership with Thomas J. Barber, he 
again embarked in the livery business which the firm thus constituted carried 
on during the two years ensuing. 

Disposing of his interests in Mt. Pleasant at the end of the period indi- 
cated, Mr. Wardrop went to Colorado and pre-empted a claim near the town of 
Sterling, at which place he also established a livery barn which he conducted 
with fair success for two years, when he located at Denver in the same line 
of business. 

In connection with his livery interests in the latter cit_\', Mr. Wardrop 
began dealing in horses, which he bought and sold upon quite an extensive 
scale throughout a large section of Colorado and during his four years in Den- 
ver he did a thriving business and became widely and favorably known among 
ranchmen and horsemen. Closing out his western interests in the fall of 
1893, he returned to Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, and purchased his old stand, 
which in the meantime had passed through various hands and which, under 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 439 

his al)le and judicious inaungement, soon became the leading eslalilislinient of 
the kind in the city. With his characteristic energy and foresight, he soon 
built up a large and lucrative business in the livery line, in connection witli 
which he also lx)ught and sold horses, which likewise ]iroved satisfactory fmni 
a financial point of view. 

After devoting tliirteen consecutive years to the livery l)usinfss, Mr. 
Wardrop, in 1907, sold his establishment in Mt. Pleasant and retired from this 
line of trade. He continued his other dealings, however, and during the past 
three years has bought extensively for various markets, giving special atten- 
tion to draft horses which he purchases at many places in Michigan and other 
states and ships to the leading cities of the country, principally to the East. 
He is by far the largest horse dealer in Isabella county and among the most 
extensive buyers and shippers in the central part of the state, his patronage 
taking a very wide range, and. as already imlicateil, gi\ing him much more 
than local repute as a shrewd though honorable and far-seeing business man. 
For some time past his interests in the east were looked after 1)\- William M. 
Keeler, who attends to the sales and shipments in that part of the country 
where his business has steadily grown in xolume and importance, bis interests 
now being looked after by Charles Mills, at Spencerport. \ew "\'ork. .\t tlie 
present time Mr. Wardrop handles from thirty to fifty lu^rses per month, on 
all of wiiich he realizes handsome profits, as his long experience in the busi- 
ness enables him to exercise due caution in his transactions and he seldom if 
ever makes a deal which does not result to his advantage. 

In addition to his live stock business. Mr. Wardrop has large farming 
interests in Isabella county, in \arious ])arts of which he owns valuable lands 
which add \ erv materially to his income. He also owns good city propertv, 
which with his other holdings have made him independent and given him 
prominent standing among the financially strong and stable men of his part 
of the state, .\lthough primarily a business man and giving liie best powers 
of his mind to the interests in which engaged, he also manifests commendable 
zeal in public and political matters, being an influential worker in the Republi- 
can party. He had previously served for .several years as under sheritY of 
the county and is tilling \arious Dtbcr ofticial positions from time to time. 

Mr. Wardro]). when twent)-six years of age, was united in marriage 
with Lizzie Hurlburt. of Fowler, Michigan, though l)orn in Xew York, and 
adopted in earlv childhood by Xelson Waters, her mother dying when she was 
quite voung. She was reared in Clinton county, this state, received a high 
sch<iol education at St. Jaiues and from the time of com])leting her course in 
that institution until her marriage she taught in the public schools. One child 



44° ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Wardrop, a son, Malcolm S., an intelligent 
young man of twenty years, who now holds the responsible position of prin- 
cipal of one of the largest ward schools in the city of Monroe, this state. He 
was graduated from the high school when quite young, later completed a full 
normal course and at nineteen was made principal of the schools of Omar, 
which position he resigned to accept the one he now so ably fills. 



CHESTER A. KELLOGG. 

That the plenitude of .'^atiety is seldom attained in the afifairs of life is 
to be considered a most beneficial deprivation, for where ambition is satisfied 
and every ultimate end realized, if such be possible, apathy must follow. 
Effort would cease, accomplishment be prostrate and creative talent waste its 
energies in inactivity. The men who have pushed forward the wheels of 
progress have been those to whom satisfaction lies ever in the future, who 
have labored continuously, always finding in each transition stage an incentive 
to further effort. Chester A. Kellogg is one whose well directed efforts have 
gained for him a position of desired prominence in the industrial circles of 
Isaliella county, and his energy and enterprise have been crowned by success. 

Mr. Kellogg was born in Easton township, Ionia county, Michigan, 
November 26, 1872. He is the son of Harding Kellogg, who was born in the 
state of New York in 1849. When three years of age the latter moved with 
his parents to Ionia county, Michigan, and remained there until 1879, and in 
the meantime he was married to Eliza Connor, who was born in 1849, i" 
Ontario, Canada, from where she moved with her parents to Ionia county, 
Michigan. The father devoted his life to farming and is now living retired 
in Mt. Pleasant where he moved in 1907. His wife is still living, and they 
are the parents of these children: Carlton, deceased; Chester, of this review: 
Lee is living at Lake View. Michigan ; Neal is deceased. 

Chester A. Kellogg was. seven years of age when he moved to Lincoln 
township, Isabella county, and there he attended school, later went to Alma 
College, where he remained three years, taking a general and commercial 
course, being graduated from that institution in 1888. For two or three 
years following his school Vi^t he was variously employed, casting about for a 
life vocation. He came to Mt. Pleasant in the fall of 1891 and, finding em- 
ployment in the prixate bank of Dusenbury, Nelson & Company soon after- 
wards, he has followed this line of endeavor. He began as clerk, and showing 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 44 1 

a natural aptness for hanking business he worked his way up to cashier. This 
institution was reorganized as a state bank in 1894, under tlie name of tlie 
Exchange Savings Bank. Mr. Kellogg was elected in 1902 as cashier of the 
new institution and as such has given his usual eflK-ient and commendable 
ser\'ice. 

]\!r. Kellogg was married on June 30. 1898. at .Mt. Pleasant, to Anna 
Pickard, daughter of W'illi.-im and Cele.sta Pickard, the father being from 
New Brunswick and the mother from Ohio. Mrs. Kellogg was born in Sagi- 
naw, Michigan, August 25, 1874. She met Mr. Kellogg in Mt. Pleasant. This 
union has resulted in the l)irth of two children. Kathelvn. linrn .\i)ril 9. 1904. 
and Hester, born September 23. 1906. 

Mr. Kellogg arrived in Isabella county with but meager capital, but 
being a man of indomitable courage he has forged to the front and has been 
very successful, and because of his connection with the banking life of tlie 
county he has become well known throughout this locality. Politically he is 
a Repul)lican. and fraternally he belongs to the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks at Mt. Pleasant. He is at this time president of the Board of 
Trade here and is one of the most influential members of the same, having 
been president for the past two years. He is a stockholder in the bank in 
which he is employed. He owns a modern and very comfortable home and 
several valuable lots in Mt. Plea.sant. He is secretary of the board of directors 
of the bank. The bank of which he is now cashier is the oldest and largest 
in Isabella countw ha\ing been organized in 1881. 



PR ED RUSSELL. 



Among the progressixe men of Mt. Pleasant, identified with important 
industrial enter|)rises, whose rare business acumen, jniblic-spirit and unc|ues- 
tioned integrity render him eligible to rank as one of the representative citizens 
of Isabella county is Fred Russell, who is too well known to the readers of 
this history to need any formal introduction here or anv undue encomium on 
his life and work. He is essentially a man of the people, broad-minded, 
capable and possessing an equipoise of attributes that stamp him as a natural 
leader of his fellows; but, being entirely unassuming, he would never consent 
to such a title or believe that he, in any way, merited the iilaudits of anyone. 

Mr. Russell was born on a farm at Grand Ledge, Michigan, in 1853. the 
.scion of a sterling old famiK who were highly honored and influential in their 



A 



442 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

coiiiniunit}'. He grew to maturity on the home farm, working the crops dur- 
ing the summer and attending the local schools in the winter time. He liegan 
life for himself by teaching school in his community, studying law the mean- 
while, and remaining at Grand Ledge until the spring of 1881. After his ad- 
mission to the bar at Harbor Springs he came to ]\It. Pleasant and formed a 
partnership with his brother. Charles T., which continued several years. In 
1887 he was elected the first school commissioner of Isabella county, after 
which he formed a partnership with the late Judge Wheaton, which continued 
successfully until Mr. Russell took charge of the Mt. Pleasant postoffice as 
deputy postmaster, in which he served with as much fidelity and business-like 
ability as he did his former office of school commissioner. After leaving the 
postoffice he. in partnership with C. D. Bowen, bought and conducted The 
Times, the popular newspaper of Mt. Pleasant, and they built up the property 
in a manner that proved them to be fully abreast of the times in the journalistic 
field. He has for some time dealt in real estate and has made some important 
deals. Mr. Russell has several times been elected circuit court commissioner 
of the county, serving the people in this connection with his usual tact and 
satisfaction. 

In October, 1887, Mr. Russell married Florence Hunt, daughter of 
Thomas and Mary Hunt, an excellent family of Lincoln township, this county. 
As a lawyer he is painstaking, persistent, profoundly \ersed in jurisprudence 
and ranks high among his professional brethren. 

At the annual meeting of the Michigan Retail Jewelers Association held 
in Detroit, July nth and 12th, Mr. Russell was the choice of the con\ention 
for president during the ensuing year. That the con\'ention made no mistake 
in its choice goes without saying among those who know Mr. Russell best. 
He has a broad and liberal education, is an attorney by profession and a promi- 
nent member of the Isabella county bar, a deep thinker, a good reasoner and 
an orator of no mean ability. For years Mr. Russell has been interested in in- 
surance operations. He was president and treasurer of the Phoenix Sick and 
Accident Company for several years. Severing his connection with that insti- 
tution in 1900, he founded the Gold Reserve Life Association at Mt. Pleasant, 
which contained so many commendable and up-to-date features that it at once 
gained a foothold in the insurance field, and has become one of the leading 
life associations of the state, and he is now vice-president and treasurer of the 
association. 

The firm of Russell & Poland, of which the subject is the prime moving 
spirit are the hustling and popular jewelers of Mt. Pleasant, their stock repre- 
senting a very complete line of all that is thoroughly new and modern in stvles. 



ISABELLA COl'NTY. MICHIGAN. 443 

finish and patterns in everything in tliat line. Tliis store was tirst opened 
by Fred Stebbins. sold l)y him to J. C. Freeman in 1886, the latter selling to 
T. i\ Palmer four years later. In 1893 T. R. Smith purchased this stock 
from Mr. Palmer, conducting the store for one year and then selling to Cliarles 
E. Hight, who conducted it until the present firm purchased it : thus it has l)een 
in successful operation for over a quarter of a century and is one of the best 
known jewelry stores in tliis ])art of the state. 

Messrs. Russell & Poland are giving very careful attention to the class 
of stock purchased by them, to the end that theirs may at all times be the most 
desirable assortment in tiiis line to l)e found in this section, and that their 
efforts are being appreciated is shown by tlic large increase which they have 
made in the volume of business since taking hold of the enter[)rise. Their 
store is a model of neatness and convenience, is managed under a superb sys- 
tem and every customer is treated with the utmost courtesy and consideration. 
Mr. Russell is one of the foremost citizens and business men of Mt. Pleasant 
and is worthy of any honor that may be bestowed upon him. 



CHARLES W. CAMPBELL. 

The gentleman whose name forms the caption of this article is eminently 
of that class who earn the indisputable right to rank in the van of the army 
of progressive men, and by reason of a long and strenuous career devoted 
to the general good of his fellow men he occupies a position of influence and 
has made a name that will long li\e in the affections of those with whom he 
has come into contact. 

Charles W. Campbell was l)oni on June 20. 1859, in Yankeetown. 
Wisconsin. He is the son of Charles H. and Louisa (Sherman) Campbell, 
both natives of New York, where they grew to maturity, were educated and 
married. The father ran a shoe store, employed a large number of assistants 
and did a tliriving business. He made shoes to order, as was the custom in 
those early days. He finally left the Empire state and emigrated to Wiscon- 
sin, locating at Soldier's Grove, where he became postmaster. At that time 
he also conducted a store. His next move was to Ionia county. Michigan. 
where he was living when tlie war between the states began, and he enlisted 
in the Third Michigan \'olunteer Infantry in 1863. seeing a great deal of 
service during the latter part of the war, in the Army of the Potomac. He 
was in the march to the sea, and he was wounded during the latter part of the 



444 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

war. This wound proved to be serious, and he was sent home, where his 
death occurred about 1865. After his death, his son, Charles W., of this re- 
view, had charge of the family, the entire care of supporting the same falling 
on his shoulders; this somewhat bitter experience engendered in him rare 
fortitude which was of great value to him in the subsequent battle of life. He 
worked as a clerk in a store until he was twenty years of age, and upon attain- 
ing his majority he was married to Sophronia Whitman, on September 20, 
1879, at St. Louis, Michigan. She is the daughter of John O. and Nancy 
Whitman, the father a native of the state of Pennsylvania and the mother 
of New York. They finally moved to Ionia county, Michigan, their daughter 
Sophronia accompanying them. She was born September 20, i860, in the 
state of New York. To Mr. and Mrs. Campbell two children have been born : 
Effie L., who was born June 20, 1880, married Verne Moulton on August 24, 
1910. and they live in Lansing, Michigan: Willard, who was born on July 20, 
1884, is living at home. 

After his marriage Mr. Campbell started out alone, inspecting lumber in 
the lumber mills and he followed this for several years. He came to Mt. 
Pleasant in 1882 and entered the employ of the Leaton & Upton Lumber 
Company, at first as bookkeeper, then as foreman. He remained in the employ 
of this company about four years, then formed a partnership with George 
Wetmore, under the firm name of Wetmore & Campbell. They established a 
plant for the manufacture of sash, doors and a general house building line, 
and they were very successful from the first. Continuing in this line for about 
three years, Mr. Campbell sold out and entered the Salvation Army as an offi- 
cer, feeling that it was his mission to do something for the down-trodden of 
his fellow men, and he was a potent factor for good in this connection. Two 
years later he was made divisional officer and had charge of several states, 
Michigan. Lidiana, Ohio and even Canada, with his offices at Mt. Pleasant. It 
was necessary for him to travel through all these states in the discharge of 
his official duties, having general supervision of all this country, and he did a 
most commendable work. Severing his relations with the Salvation Army, he 
organized the Christian Crusaders in 1891, an inter-denominational evangelis- 
tic work, and he went to different churches in several states in the interest of 
this movement. He was very successful in this and the organization still 
exists in the East and South, gradually growing in power and infiuence. 

On account of his voice failing temporarily. Mr. Campbell was obliged 
to give up his work, and he entered the Gold Reserve Life Association as 
secretary, and he has been performing the duties of this office ever since, 
from 1903 to 1910. When he entered the office the company was in its in- 



1 



ISABECLA COUNTY, MICIIIGAX. 445 

fancy, hut it has enjoyed a substantial and continuous growth and its prestige 
is rajiidly increasing, due in no small measure to Mr. Campbell's earnest and 
judicious efforts. He is the owner of some valuable town property. He is 
now affiliate<l with the Alcthodist Episcopal church, being local elder of the 
Methodist church, and in politics he is independent; he- is also superintendent 
of the Sunday school at his church, which is one of the largest north of Grand 
Rapids, and the largest in this district in this denomination. At limes he 
still does evangelistic work for other churches. He is now secretary of the 
local option society at Mt. Pleasant. He is a strong, useful man and does a 
great amount of good. 



FRED C. WALLINGTON. 

Among the men of sturdy integrity and relial)le traits of character who 
have contributed their quota to the advancement of the upbuilding of Isabella 
county, mention must most consistently be made of him whose name appears 
above, who ranks among the leading business men and public-spirited citizens 
of Union township where he has maintained his home for a number of vears. 

Fred C. W'allington was born in Eaton county, Michigan, October 28, 
i860. He is the son of Cornelius Wallington. who was born in Buckingham- 
shire. England, in 1833, and he came to America with his ])arents when 
tweh'e years of age and settled in Washtenaw county, Michigan, where they 
remained all their lives, the parents both dying there. When he was nineteen 
years of age Cornelius Wallington came to Eaton county and lived and died 
there, his death occurring in October, 1903. He was a farmer and home- 
steaded land which was all in the wilderness. He cleared the same, building 
first a log house, but by hard work he eventually had an excellent home and a 
good farm. He married Mary Reed, daughter of John C. and Eliza Reed, of 
St. Lawrence county, Xew York, from which county her parents came to 
Michigan, settling in Eaton county, and here the parents of the subject were 
married in 1852. The mother is still living at the home of her daughter 
near the old homestead. They were the parents of these children : 
Ellen is li\ing in Petoskey ; Rose is a resident of Ionia county, this state: \'er- 
nie lives in Eaton county, and Fred C, of this review. 

Fred C. W'allington remained in his native community in Roxanna town- 
ship, Eaton count}\ Michigan, until he was twenty-four years old. He re- 
ceived his education in the district schools. When twenty-one years of age 
his father gave him sixty acres of land. He worked on this place three years. 



1 



44^ ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

and during his residence here his son, Ivan, was born. He left this farm in 
the spring of 1885, -when he went to Ionia City, Michigan, where he read law 
one year in the office of Webster & Miller, and, having made rapid progress, 
he was admitted to the bar on February 20, 1886, at Ionia City, and on the 
following March he came to Mt. Pleasant and opened an office about a month 
later, in April, and he has been here ever since. He formed a partnership with 
Walter S. Walker, of Ionia. He had little business at first, but soon his talents 
became recognized and he has built up a very satisfactory clientele. Mr. Wal- 
ker left the office the follov;ing summer, leaving the afi'airs of the same in 
the hands of Mr. ^^'allington. He returned in the fall and Mr. Wallington 
bought him out. The subject ran for prosecuting attorney that fall against 
Mr. Walker, his former partner, being the choice of the Republican electors, 
but was defeated. 

Mr. Wallington was married in December. 1881, in Eaton county, to 
Marietta McCargor, daughter of John W. and Lucy McCargor, a prominent 
and highly respected family of Eaton county. Mrs. Wallington was born on 
February 15, 1858, in Roxanna township, Eaton county. She was reared and 
educated there and became a teacher and while thus engaged she met Mr. 
Wallington. Their son, Ivan D., was born in December, 1884. He married 
Emma Cameron, daughter of John Cameron and wife, of Sherman City, this 
county, where they met while Mr. Wallington was teaching school there, and 
their marriage was celebrated on June i, 1906; they have one child, Greta, 
born June i, 1907; they are living in Mt. Pleasant, the son being associated 
with his father in business, having formed a partnership with him in the fall 
of 1906. 

Besides a general law business, Mr. Wallington and his son do a large 
business in loans, collections and insurance. They have enjoyed a very liberal 
patronage which is constantly growing. The elder Wallington was city at- 
torney of Mt. Pleasant two years, and Ivan was alderman from the first ward 
for two years. Both are loyal Republicans. The latter is an officer in the 
lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Mt. Pleasant, being 
a charter member of the same. Ivan Wallington is secretary of the Masonic 
order at Mt. Pleasant. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and 
belongs to the Shriners at Detroit in the Masonic order. Both Mr. Wallington 
and his son own several farms, three in Isabella county and two in Eaton and 
Ionia counties, in all comprising three hundred and seventy acres : one of these 
farms is the old homestead. They also own several lots and two houses else- 
where. \\nien the elder \\'allington came here there were many opportunities 
to buy property, but he had himself, wife and child to support and upon his 



ISABELLA COUXTV, MICHIGAN. 447 

arrival here liad a capital of ten dollars. He bought property in the iieart 
of town, seventeen by one hundred feet, in 1909; this has Ijecome very \alua- 
ble. His office is located on the same. lie maintained an office in the Isaliella 
State Rank Iniilding here for a period of nineteen years, paying nearly three 
thousand dollars rent during that time, but his gross earnings during that 
periiid amminted to sixty tlious.nnd dollars. Shorth' after cnming to this 
county he had occasion to pass through Wise township, when he became lost 
in the woods, wandering aljout one entire afternoon, finally finding a house 
after nightfall where he found lodgment. Such were the almost interminable 
forests here at that time. Mr. W'allington is regarded as a keen, far-sighted 
business man, whose ideals ha\c always been hi.gh and in whoni the utmost 
confidence can be reposed. 



MICH.M'.L DFA'EREAUX. 

Holding distinct prestige among the leading business men and lawyers 
of Isabella county, Michael Devereau.x can claim to have had nuich to do with 
the advancement of local interests in a material as well as a civic and moral 
way haxing long maintained his home at Mt. Pleasant which he has assisted 
in making one of the important commercial and educational centers in this 
section of the great Wolverine state. The study of such a life cannot fail of 
interest and incentive, for at the same time he has established a reputation for 
lasting integrity and honor. As a counselor he is known as a man who is 
guarded in bis expression of opinions, deliberate, wary and cautious in arriv- 
ing at conclusions, seeking to attain a thorough knowledge of the cause before 
the administration of advice or the commencement of action. In the trial 
acts of the court room he is self-possessed and cool, not easily irritated or 
e.xcited. and conducts his proceedings in band with fairness to all parties 
concerned, strictly obeying the canons of courtesy to the ct)urt and the oppo.s- 
ing counsel. 

Mr. Devereaux was born January 17, 1845. 'r" Ii'ondequoit township. 
Monroe countv. New York eight miles from Rochester. He is the son of 
Patrick and Mary (Conklin) Devereaux. His parents moved to Michigan 
one vear after his birth, and settled on a new farm in O.sceola township. Liv- 
ingston countv. In 1855 they mo\ed to Deerfield township, the same county, 
where the mother died in 1858. The following year the family moved to 
Plartland township, that county. In the midst of such primitive conditions 
the subject grew to maturity. When ten years of age. while making a hand 



448 ISABFLLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

sled, he accidentally cut one knee, causing a lameness, unfitting him for farm 
work, so he was given the advantages of a liberal education. He attended the 
common schools until he was eighteen years old. He then spent a year at a 
private seminary at Howell. Michigan, after which he commenced teaching. 
His first school was in Osceola township, after which he taught the village 
school at Fowlerville one winter. He then took charge of the ^■illage school 
of Zihvaukee, Saginaw county, for two years. Having an ambition for a 
more liberal education, he attended the State Normal School at Ypsilanti, 
where he studied for two years. He then spent five years as principal of the 
schools at Ontonagon, Michigan, making a fine record as an educator there. 
But he abandoned the school room to begin the study of law in 1874. in which 
year he entered the law department of the University of Michigan, from 
which he was graduated in the year 1876. and coming to JMt. Pleasant the 
same year, he formed a partnership with S. W. Hopkins. The firm continued 
in business until 1878. when Mr. Hopkins was elected as representative in the 
state Legislature, and Mr. Devereaux as prosecuting attorney of Isabella 
count}-, he and Sheriff Charles M. Brooks being the only candidates elected 
on the Democratic ticket. 

In 1882 Mr. Devereaux formed a partnership with J. W. Hance, under 
the firm name of Hance & Devereaux, for the transaction of a general real 
estate and loaning business, which firm has continued successfully to the 
present time, and is considered one of the old and established enterprises of 
Mt. Pleasant. They also carried on an extensive lumbering interest, especially 
in Midland county. In 1883 they erected a business block which for years 
was the leading block in the town; Mr. Devereaux purchased this entire block 
on Alarch 22, 1895, also in that year he erected the handsome block in which 
the firm's office is located, the new one taking the place of the block erected 
in 1883, which burned in March, 1895. 

Mr. Devereaux served Mt. Pleasant as mayor in 1890 and 1891. and again 
in 1894 and 1895. and in 1907 he resigned his position as president of the 
board of public works to become mayor of the city for the third term. While 
an incumbent of this office he did many things for the permanent good of the 
community and his administrations met the approval of all good citizens. He 
was one of the nine directors of the Mt. Pleasant Improvement Company, 
which secured the State Normal School for this city, ser\'ing as president of 
the same. In 1896. upon the death of C. Bennett, he was appointed admin- 
istrator of that estate, handling the same with satisfaction to those interested 
and with credit to himself. He has long been deeply interested in educational 
affairs, serving as a member and secretary of the school board for many 



ISABELLA COL'NTV, MKIIIGAX. 449 

years and as chairman of the Ijoard of county school examiners. Fraternally, 
he has heen a member of Tent No. 129, Knights of the Maccabees, since .\\n\\ 
10, 1885, and of the Knights of the Loyal Guard since November. 1897. 



FRANCIS McXAMAKA. 

One of the Ix-st known names in Isabella county is that of Francis Mc- 
Namara, a counselor-at-law whose reputation has far transcended the limits 
of his own count}', being known in his professional life as an earnest, cautious, 
painstaking and upright man of affairs, who devotes his thought, judgment, 
ability and genius to the cau.se of his clients. He is a close student, fully un- 
derstands the law, thoroughly investigates causes under his consideration, is 
possessed of great tenacity of ])inpose, and when he believes he is supported 
by the law he will not l>e driven from his conclusions or ])ropositions. As a 
citizen lie is public spirited and progressive and has shown himself to be worthy 
of the trust and confidence reposed in him. 

Mr. McNamara was born in Lapeer. Michigan, on August 24. 1861. He is 
the son of Michael and Mary McNamara, both born in county Clare, Ireland, 
the father on August 18, 1820, the mother in 1819. While \oung in vears 
they emigrated to America with their parents. The father settled in New- 
York and came to Michigan in 1856, locating in Lapeer county. The Mc- 
Namara family located in the state of New York upon coming to this country, 
and there the parents of h'rancis McNamara of this review were married, at 
the town of Lockport, in 1840, and it was only a short time until tiiey followed 
the tide of emigration then setting in strongly for the West and took up their 
abode in the Wolverine state. Michael McNamara was a contractor and stone 
mason there until lyoo, then, his faithful life companion being called to her 
rest, he came to Mt. Pleasant and made his home with his son. I-"rancis. until 
his death, which occurred in 1901. 

Francis McNamara remained in Lapeer until 1881. He attended the 
city schools and was graduated fr(^m the high school there, then, on the date 
last referred to, he entered the literary department of the L'nixersitv of 
Michigan and received a good education. He began life for himself by teach- 
ing in the high school at Port Huron, Michigan, where he remained for foiu" 
years. He was principal of the high school and was very succcessful as an 
educator, being popular with both patron and pupil. But believing that his 
true bent was along legal lines, he took up the study of law, and after spending 
(29) 



4SO ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

one year in a law office, where he made rapid progress, he was admitted to tlie 
bar in Detroit in 1886. Then he came to Mt. Pleasant and for two years 
served as deputy county treasurer, having been appointed by his brother, who 
at that time held the office of county treasurer. He was then cashier of the 
Commercial Bank .at Mt. Pleasant for three years. For several years he en- 
gaged very successfully in the practice of law here with Charles T. Russell, 
and since 1901 he has been practicing alone. He was successful from the 
first and his practice has known a gradual increase until he now has a very 
satisfactory clientele. 

Mr. McNamara is a Republican in politics and he has always been active 
in partv affairs. Local leaders at once recognized his ability and singled him 
out for local offices which he filled with much credit to himself and to the 
entire satisfaction of bis constituents, including that of prosecuting attorney 
for one term, and he has been city attorney of Mt. Pleasant for a number of 
terms and is holding that office at present. He has been a member of the 
local school board for a period of nine years and is now president of the same. 
He has done a great deal to bring the school system here up to a high standard, 
being deeply interested in educational matters. He is attorney and director 
of the Exchange Savings Bank of Mt. Pleasant. He is one of the attorneys 
of the Ann Arbor Railway Company. He has dealt some in real estate, in 
which he has been veiy successful, as he has in whatever he has turned his at- 
tention to, being a man of keen discernment and with an analytical mind and 
sound business principles. His home in Mt. Pleasant is a commodious, mod- 
ern and beautiful one and is known as a place of hospitality to the many 
friends of the family. He owns several lots in this city and consideralile wild 
land in the county. 

Mr. McNamara was married on October 28, 1890, in Mt. Pleasant to 
Anna Dibble, daughter of Thomas and Ellen Dibble, of Mt. Pleasant, a well- 
known and highly respected family here. She was born in Spring Lake, 
Ottawa county, February 21. 1865, and moved with her parents to Isaliella 
county about 1880. To Mr. and Mrs. McNamara the following children have 
been born : Thomas, who is attending the normal school at Mt. Pleasant, was 
born on October i, 1891 ; Josephine. l)orn December 2^. 1893: Catherine, 
born .\ugust 31, 1899; Frances, bom April 6, 1902; James, born December 6, 
1906. They are all members of the home circle and are attending the local 
schools. 

■Mr. McNamara has been scribe of the Ben Hur lodge: also belongs to 
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks ; was commander of the Knights 
of the Maccabees : was advocate of the Knights of Columbus for se\-eral years. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICIIIGAX. 45 1 

and was president of the Catholic .Mutnal benevolent Ass(Jciation. In all 
these orders he takes an abiding interest and is well known in fraternal cir- 
cles. He and his family are members and faithful supporters of the Catholic 
church. He is well known throughout the county and has figured in all im- 
portant law suits liere during the jiast ten years, in Iwtli the city and county. 



1IEK11I".RT A. SAXFORD. 

Holding worthy prestige among the leading members of tlie Isabella 
county bar, the suijject of this sketch has achieved distinctixe success in his 
chosen calling and it is eminently fitting that iiis record. l)Oth officially and in 
tlie general practice of his profession, be |)laced upon the printed page. Herbert 
A. Sanford is a native of Jackson county. Michigan, where he was born on 
March i8. i860. His grandfather, .\braham Sanford, was a pioneer of Lib- 
erty townshi]). that county, moxing to Michigan when the country was almost 
a wilderness and the feet of liie red men still iiressed ihe soil. George II. 
Sanford. the subject's father, a lad five years old when the family located a 
home amid the wilds of Liberty township, grew up amid the stirring scenes of 
jiionecr life, later became an enterprising tiller of the soil, and when a young 
man he married Ruth E. Begel. whose birth occurred in Steuben county, Xew 
York, and removed to Jackson county, Michigan, when she was two years 
old. Her parents were also early settlers of Jackson county. Michigan. 

.After living in the above county until 1868, George H. Sanford moved 
his faniiK to I'lint. .Michigan, and again removed to Isabella county 
in 1870 and took up a homestead in section 17, Lincoln township, which he 
improved in due time. In connection with the cultivation of the soil he also 
engaged in lumbering in the vicinity of his home and in Clare county. Moving 
to Clare county in i8y8, he spent the remainder of his life in that county, 
dying there two years later at the age of si.\ty-nine. leaving a widiiw and 
three children to mourn his loss, the names of the latter being as follows: 
Clarence F.. a farmer of Clare county; Dr. I'red (,'.. a practicing physician of 
the city of Clare, and Herbert .\., whose name introduces this review. 

Herbert A. Sanford received his preliminary education in the public 
schools of Lincoln township and Mt. Pleasant, this training being afterwards 
supplemented by a course in Hillsdale College, where he prosecuted his studies 
for a period of three years, having taught school in the meantime to assist in 
paying his ex]ienses and made an lionoral)le record as a student. \\'ith this 



45^ ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

excellent mental discipline as a basis, he took up the study of law in the 
office of Hon. H. H. Graves, of Mt. Pleasant, under whose able instructions he 
continued until his admission to the bar, fourteen months later. 

Mr. Sanford was formally admitted to the Isabella county bar September 
7, 1887, by Judge Hart and immediately thereafter engaged in the practice of 
his profession, which he has since continued with gratifying success. For two 
and a half years he was associated with Hon. Fred Estee, and in 1890 was 
the Democratic nominee for prosecuting attorney, defeating liis competitor in 
the ensuing election and entering upon his official duties under \-ery favorable 
auspices. Mr. Sanford proved an able and judicious prosecutor, his career 
while in the office meeting tl^e expectations of his friends and fully justifying 
the party in the wisdom of its choice in again making him a candidate. He 
was elected prosecuting attorney again in 1892. He discharged iiis duties 
creditably and fearlessly, took high rank as an industrious and faithful ])ublic 
servant and during his incumbency prosecuted a number of impdrtant cases 
besides attending to a large amount of legal business that did not come within 
his official sphere. After serving with credit to himself and to the satisfac- 
tion of the people of the county for a full term of four years, he retired from 
the office with a creditable record and. resuming his private practice, soon 
built up a large and lucrative professional business which is still growing in 
magniturle and importance. He has sened several terms as city attorney and 
as such he was unremitting in his efforts to conserve the interests of the 
municipalitv and from time to time prior thereto and since, his name has l^een 
connected with many of the most important cases adjudicated at the Mt. 
Pleasant bar. In his practice Mr. Sanford is eminently a lawyer of resources. 
Always a student, careful in the preparation of his case and quick to see and 
anticipate difficulties which are or may be encountered, he is never discomfited 
by them, being able to shape his cause so as to avoid them when it is possible 
to do so. Vigorous and at times aggressive, he is also always kind, courteous 
and gentlemanly in dealing with witnesses and opposing counsel, and however 
interesting and momentous the cause at issue may be, he never allows himself 
to fall below the standard of a gentleman. In politics he is an ardent Demo- 
crat and for a number of years has been one of his party's trusted leaders and 
judicious counsellors in Isabella county, besides becoming widely acf|uainted 
in political circles throughout the state. He has been an influential factor in 
making platforms and formulating policies in both local and state issues, hav- 
ing long served on the county committee, of which he is now secretary, and 
he is also a member of the Democratic state committee, where his opinions 
alwavs give weight. In a strongly Republican county be has lieen instrument- 



ISABFLLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 453 

;il in rcduciiii,' tlic I;irge normal majorities and electing; Democratic candi- 
dates from lime to time, being an indefatigable worker and iiaving few eqnals 
as a shrewd and skillful, though honorable, campaigner. 

^Ir. Sanford has been quite successful financially and is now in inde- 
pendent circumstances, the earnings from his practice being liberal, in addition 
to which he is interested with his brother in Clare county farm lands. In his 
fraternal relations he is a member of the Knights of the .Maccabees, the 
Knights of Pythias, the order of Woodmen, the National Guards and other 
organizations, aside from which he keeps in touch with all laudable means for 
the social and moral good of his fellow men. 

The domestic chapter in the life of .Mr. Sanford liears the date of Sep- 
tember 6, 1888, at which time was solemnized his marriage with ilaggie 
Peak, of Mt. Pleasant, daughter of Irving C. and .Mary R. Peak, natives, re- 
spectively, of Michigan and Kentucky, the father and mother being now de- 
ceased. Two children have blessed this marriage, the older. Aura Peak San- 
ford. being a graduate of Mt. Pleasant high school and the Central State Nor- 
mal at Mt. Pleasant and at this time a teacher in the schools of Niles, this 
state: Mary Ruth, the second in order of birth, is a bright young miss of ten 
years, who is now pursuing her studies in the city schools. Mrs. Sanford and 
her elder daughter are members of the Christian church of Mt. Pleasant and 
zealous in all lines of good work connected with the same. While indejiendent 
in matters religious and not identitied with any church, Mr. Sanford has 
profound respect for the church which he believes to be a powerful factor for 
good and one of the great controlling forces in civilization. 



AMl'.S WATSOX. 



The gentleman whose name introduces this sketch is a native of Middle- 
sex county. Ontario, and the third of a family of six children whose parents. 
James and Ro.sella ( Roseliu.-h ) Watson, are noticed elsewhere in these pages. 
He was born in the year 1871 and when alx)ut four years of age was brought 
to Isabella county, where he spent his early life on his father's farm, attending 
at intervals, during his childhood and youth, the district schools of his 
neighborhood. He was reared imder excellent home influences, learned while 
a mere youth the value and dignity of honest labor and grew up to the full 
measure of manhood with the idea that it is honorable to earn one's daily 
bread by the sweat of his iirow. .\fter assisting in cultivating the farm for 



454 ISABILLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

some years, he became a clerk in a mercantile establishment in Clare county, 
but seven years' experience satisfying him with the goods business he spent 
a short time in the \\'est. Returning to ^Michigan he bought eighty acres of 
land in Isabella township and at once addressed himself to the task of its 
improvement. 

Mr. Watson has a fine farm in an excellent state of tillage, all but fifteen 
acres being susceptible to culti\'ation and his buildings of all kinds are substan- 
tial and up to date. In 1903 he erected the large barn, thirty-six by sixty-five 
feet in area, which is well finished and admirably adapted to the purposes for 
W'hich intended, and by a judicious system of tile drainage he has reclaimed 
considerable land and added greatly to its productiveness. His farm is not 
only well tended, but is neat in appearance and its e\ery feature bespeaks the 
home of a prosperous, progressive, well-to-do agricultvu^ist of today wdio 
takes pride in his vocation. 

]\Ir. \\'atson \'otes with the Republican party, but has ne\er entered the 
domain of politics as an ofiice seeker: nevertheless he has been honored by 
his fellow citizens from time to time with important otificial positions, having 
ser\'ed two years as treasurer of Isabella township, and for the same length 
of time was a member of the board of re\iew. He discharged his duties in a 
manner highly creditable to himself and to the satisfaction of the public and 
in both positions earned an honorable reputation as a capable and trustworthy 
ofificial. 

Mr. Watson married October 5, 1905, Anna Kennedy, of Mt. Pleasant, 
Michigan, who was born in Carroll county, Ohio, July 19, 1876. To them 
were born two children. Florence Ruth and Beulah May. Mrs. A\'atson's 
parents were both born in Carroll county, Ohio, and mo\ed to ^Michigan in 
1878, Mr. Kennedv being proprietor of a saw mill until his death, October 15, 
1893. 



MARTIN MEXEREY. 

Martin Menerey. register of deeds, Mt. Pleasant, is one of Michigan's 
native sons and dates his birth from March 26, 1869. His father. Jacob 
Menerey, was born in the province of Ontario, and his mother, whose maiden 
name was Annie K. Brown, is a native of Quebec. These parents were mar- 
ried in St. Clair county, Michigan, in 1863, where they made their home until 
their removal in 1893 to Isabella county. Jacob Menerey purchased a farm in 
Wise township, which he still owns and cultivates. 



is.\ni:Li,A c(HXi^'. MIC iiic.AX. 455 

Martin Mcncrcy first saw the liglil uf day in St. Clair county ami there 
sjient the years of his childhood and youth, while still young learning the 
lessons of industry and thrift on the family homestead, .\fter completing 
the common school course, he entered a high school, where he made com- 
mendable progress in his studies, in tiie meantime assisting his father with the 
work of the farm and proving not oiiK- an industrious l)o\-, l)ut a true anil 
worthy son. He accompanied his parents upon their removal in 1893 to 
Isabella county and remained at home, looking after the farm until his election, 
in 1908, to the office which he now liolds, since which time lie has lived in Mt. 
Pleasant, in order to give his attention to liis jxililic duties. 

X'o sooner had Mr. Menerey become a resident of Wise township than 
he began manifesting a Ii\cly interest in the affairs of the same and it was not 
long until his fellow citizens selected him clerk of that jurisdiction, a position 
for which, lie seemed peculiarly fitted. He also served as supervisor of the 
township for eight years, being chairman of the hoard for four years, and in 
this, as in the offices referred to. his ability was such as to bring him to the 
favorable consideration of his friends for something preferable to nominal 
local positions. Accordingly, in kjdS Ik- was ncmiinated by the Republican 
party for register of deeds, to which office he was trium])hantl_\- elected in the 
fall of that year. Since entering upon his official duties Mr. Menerey has 
fiilK- met the expectations of his friends and his course thus far has been 
eminently creditable to himself and satisfactory to the public, thus justifying 
the wisdom of his election and bespeakin.g for him still further honors at the 
hands of his fellow citizens in the future. Careful, prudent and courteous to 
all wiio have business to transact in his office, he has strengthened his hold 
upon the people of the coumy, all of whom, irrespective of political affiliation, 
repose confidence in his integrity and hold him in high personal regard. He 
possesses the faculty of winning and retaining friends whose loyalty cannot 
be questioned and it is not presumi)tioii to state that there are today few as 
pojuilar young men in Isabella county as this intelligent, wide-awake young 
gentleman, to whom the i)eople have entrusted one of their im])ortant official 
interests. 

Mr. Menerev has a farm in Wise township, to the management of which 
he gives considerable attention, and he is also interested in whatever tends to 
promote the material development of the townshii) and benefit the people. He 
is public spirited and progressive, uses his influence to further all moral and 
humanitarian enterprises and endeavors to realize within himself his high 
ideals of manhood and citizenship. With the laudable object in view of 
lienefiting his fellow men as well as himself, he has become identified with 



456 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

several secret fraternal orders, in all of which he has been active and influen- 
tial, striving by all means at his command to make them answer the purposes- 
whicli they are intended to subserve. He is prominent in the ]\Iasonic brother- 
hood at Mt. Pleasant, belonging to the chapter of Royal Arch Masons: has 
served as worshipful master of the Blue lodge and represents the same in the 
grand lodge of the state. He also holds membership with the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows. Knights of the Maccabees and Benevolent and Pro- 
tective Order of Elks, in which he has held important offices from time to time. 
On September 4, 1909, Mr. Menerey was happily married to Edna M. 
Bouton, of Mt. Pleasant, daughter of Henry S. and Cornelia A. (Swart) 
Bouton, who moved from Calhoun, Michigan, to Isabella county about the 
year 1862 and settled in Union township. After living in that locality until 
1907 Mr. Bouton retired to Mt. Pleasant, his wife having died two years 
prior to that date. Mrs. Menerey was born December 23, 1868. in Union 
township, this county, and is an intelligent and estimable lady, and all who 
know her speak of her many excellent qualities. 



BERNARD E. DERSNAH. 

Although a man young in years, Bernard E. Dersnah, of Mt. Pleasant, 
Isabella county, is a man of marked business enterprise and capability, and he 
carries forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes. He is an 
important factor in business circles and his popularity is well deserved, as in 
him are embraced the characteristics of an unabated energy, unbending integ- 
rity and industry that never flags. 

Mv. Dersnah was born in Harrison City, Clare county, ^Michigan. Novem- 
ber 25, 1885. He is the son of William Dersnah, who was born in Ada, 
Ontario, Canada, in 1861, from which place he was brought to Michigan by 
his parents w'hen four years of age, and he lived at Saginaw until he was 
twelve years old, then came to Clare county with his parents, where the 
latter lived until 1886. He was employed as assistant superintendent of a 
lumber concern in Clare county. He purchased eighty acres in Vernon town- 
ship, Isabella county, and lived on it twelve years, the family remaining there 
longer, the father. \\'illiam, having moved to Mt. Pleasant to become assistant 
drain commissioner. He was supervisor of Vernon township three terms, 
then elected county treasurer two terms, after which he spent a year in Lans- 
ing, having been appointed a committee clerk at the capitol. After returning 



ISABELLA COLNTV, MICHIGAN. 457 

home lie was elected drain commissioner, and he was holding this office at the 
time of his death, on June i8, 1909. He was a very faithful public servant, 
serving in various capacities in the county for a period of twelve years con- 
secutively. He married Maria Rrazington. daugliter of Seymour and Malinda 
(Wickins) Brazington. of Gilmore township, this county. She was born in 
Oakland county. Michigan, and moved to Gilmore with her parents about 
1877. where slie lived until her marriage, in 1881. Mr. and Mrs. Dersnah 
lived at Farwell. Clare county, tor a short time, and tliey lived at various 
places until they finally located on their farm in Vernon township. The fol- 
lowing children were born to them: Hattie married Ed. Hornby; Bernard, 
of this review ; Eugene, who has remained single, is attending school in Mt. 
Pleasant ; Seymour is living at home ; Thelma is also a member of the home 
circle. The mother of these ciiildren is residing in Mt. Pleasant. William 
Dersnah was for many years prominent and influential in politics. He was an 
ardent Republican and was highly honored for his many sterling character- 
istics. 

Bernard E. Dersnah was fifteen years of age when his parents moved to 
Mt. Pleasant. He attended the district school and was graduated from the 
local high school in 1906. He was a noted football player anil always took 
an interest in general athletics. The year after he left high school he took a 
course in the Michigan Agricultural College, and while there he was the 
moving spirit of the football team. I le returned to Isabella county, and taught 
school at Winn. Fremont township, one term, then assisted his father in his 
work as drain commissioner during the summer, and in the fall began teaching 
at Indian school, filling a vacancy for awhile, at the same time coaching the 
Indian football team. On the following January he purchased the loaning 
business of J. A. Livingston at Mt. Pleasant: to this he added real estate and 
has continued both lines to the present in a ven- satisfactory manner. Consid- 
ering the short time he has been in business, he has built up a very satisfactory 
real estate department, and the loaning department has increased noticeably. 
As a real estate dealer he hns been instrumental in raising the price of lands in 
the county, principally l)y advertising the land in different ways and in various 
states, thereby bringing in many buyers. He has tluce l)rancli offices in Ohio, 
each of them soliciting buyers for the land in Isabella county. 

Fraternallv Mr. Dersnah is a member of the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks, Lodge No. 1164. at Mt. Pleasant: the Modern Woodmen of 
America camp at Mt. Pleasant : also the Loyal Guards of Mt. Pleasant. Politi- 
cally he is a Republican. 

On February i. 1908, Mr. Dersnah was married at Mt. Pleasant, to (irace 



458 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

A. Riley, a lady of education and refinement, the daughter of L. P. and Allie 
Riley, a prominent family here. Mrs. Dersnah was born in February, 1887, 
in Avery, Ohio. She moved to Isabella count}- with her parents in 1893 ^nd 
settled in Union township, just outside Mt. Pleasant. This union has been 
graced by the birth of one cb.ild. Helen. 



ALFRED C. ROWLADER. 

A conspicuous figure in the political history of Isabella county and hon- 
ored with important official trusts, the subject of this sketch fills a large place 
in the public eye and to a marked degree enjoys the esteem and confidence of 
his fellow citizens. Alfred C. Rowlader, county clerk and one of the prom- 
inent men of Mt. Pleasant, is a native of Michigan and a son of \\'ashington 
and Permelia (Myers) Rowlader, the former born in New York of Wurtem- 
berg German ancestry, the latter born in Pennsylvania, both coming to Michi- 
gan a number of years ago and settling in Barry county, where the subject 
was born on April 21, 1856. Alfred C. was reared under excellent home in- 
fluences, early became accustomed to the duties of farm life and at the proper 
age entered the public schools, where his progress was such that when nine- 
teen years of age he was sufficiently advanced in his studies to pass the req- 
uisite examination and obtain a teacher's license. 

Mr. Rowlader remained with his parents until his twenty-third year, but 
in the meantime taught several terms of school in Ionia county and in 1S78 
severed home ties and came to Isabella county with the object in view of en- 
gaging in agricultural pursuits. Purchasing eighty acres in section 15, Lin- 
coln township, shortly after his arrival, he at once began improving the same 
and one year later returned to his native county, where he married the lady 
of his choice in the person of Cora Cooper, whose parents, Israel and Eliza- 
beth (Smith) Cooper, natives of Nev,' York, moved to Barry county in an 
early day and died there in the years 1864 and 1867, respectively. Mrs. 
Rowlader was born March 26, 1858, at Woodland, Barry county, and at the 
early age of sixteen began teaching, which calling she continued until her 
marriage, in the year 1878, achieving marked success in the meantime and a 
notable place among the popular and influential teachers of her county. 

Setting up his domestic establishment on his land in Lincoln township 
immediately after his marriage, Mr. Rowlader applied himself with renewed 
energv and diligence to the matter of improvement and in due time succeeded 



ISABELLA COl'NT'i'. MUIIICAX. 459 

in removing tlie forest growth and fitting the soil for cnllivation. He lalxjred 
to snch advantage that it was not long until his farm was in first-class condi- 
tion, with suhstantial hnildings, his dwelling heing comfortable, commodious 
and e(]uip]ie(l witii a full C(ini])lenient of modern conNcnicnccs, iiis liarn, also a 
large and stable structure. com|)aring favorably with any nthor edifice of the 
kind in the township. As a tiller of the soil he was industrious and energetic, 
seldom if ever failed to realize handsome returns fmni his lal)ors and by his 
progressive ideas did much to arouse an interest in modern agricultural 
methods and advance the farmer's vocation to tiie higii place it now holds in 
the minds of the people. 

Mr. Rowlader is a Republican and for a number of vears has been a 
leader of his party in Isabella county. He early began taking an active part 
in public matters and when only twenty-four years old became township 
clerk, which office he held two years, and for a period of ei.ght vears served as 
supervisor, discharging the duties of both positions in a capable and satisfac- 
tory manner and proving a most faithful and judicious ])ublic servant. His 
activity and influence in political circles, together with the ability displaved 
in the positions referred to commeiiding him lo his party iln-ougbout the 
county as an axailable candidate for something higher than mere l<ical oflices. 
he was nominated in 1898 for county clerk and at the ensuing election defeated 
his competitor 1iy a majority of three hundred and eighty-three votes. He 
entered upon tlie duties of the position under \ery favorable auspices and so 
al)Iy and credilaliK- did he conduct the otVice tlial in the year 1900 he was 
chosen his own successor by a .greatly increased majority, receiving one thou- 
sand and fifty-six more votes than his competitor, which result attested his 
great popularity with the ])eoi)Ie irrespective of political ties. His efficiency 
and faithfulness as a public official having been abundantly demonstrated, the 
voters of the county decided to retain him in the position which he so ably and 
honorably filled, accordingly he was renominated and re-elected for six con- 
secutive terms, being three times nominated by acclamation and at the last 
election, in 1908, receiving the unprecedented majority of one thousand four 
hundred and eighty-two votes. 

The better to de\ote all of his time to his official duties, Mr. Rowlader. 
in 190-'. tiuMied his farm o\er to other hands ;md the year following mo\ed to 
Mt. Pleasant, where he has since resided. Sufficient has already I)een said to 
indicate his high character as an intelligent, broad-minded man of affairs, 
while as an official who makes every other consideration subordinate to the in- 
terests of the people, it is only necessary to add that the countv has never been 
served bv a more ca|iable. judicious or popidar clerk. Furthermore, to his credit 



460 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

be it stated that in the various conventions by whicli he was so signally honored 
he put forth no extra efforts to receive the nomination and at the ensuing 
elections, in some of which he did no campaign work whatever, it was the 
office seeking the man, rather than the man seeking the office. He has long 
been an adviser in the councils of his party in Isabella county, has had much 
to do in formulating and carrying out its policies, and from time to time has 
served on the county central committee, of which for four years he was 
chairman. 

Mr. Rovvlader is an influential Odd Fellow and takes great interest in 
the work of the order. He has passed all the chairs in the subordinate lodge 
at Mt. Pleasant with which he holds membership, and for some years has been 
a trustee of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows" Home at the same place, 
a flourishing and praiseworthy institution, to the success of which he has in 
various ways contributed. While looking after the public good, he has not 
been unmindful of his own interests, being careful and methodical in business 
and exhiliiting sound judgment and wise discretion in all of his affairs. He 
has been quite successful financially, and is now one of the substantial and 
well-to-do men of the county, owning valuable city property and large agricul- 
tural interests, among the latter being two farms, one in Fremont township of 
eighty-six acres and one of one hundred and twenty acres in Lincoln town- 
ship, all fine land, well improved and yielding him a handsome income. 

Mr. and Mrs. Rovvlader are the parents of three children, Bessie P., Inez 
L. and Alfred W. Bessie married Henry Cutler and lives at Menominee, Wis- 
consin, where her husband is engaged in business. The second daughter, who 
is the wife of Albert Pohland, lives at Iron River, Michigan, and the son, 
familiarly known as "Fred." is proprietor of a drug store in Mt. Pleasant and 
one of the rising business men of the city. 



■ J. E. CHATTERTON & SON. 

The firm of Chatterton & Son, of Mt. Pleasant. Isabella county, is de- 
serving of a verv high rank in local industrial circles, since it has done as much 
as any other to establish the prestige of this vicinity abroad and contribute to 
the general upbuilding of the town and county. The adherence to a straight- 
forward and honorable policy and the treating of their patrons with the con- 
sideration due them .is the key to much of the success of this firm, and that 
thev are destined to continue the upright course they have thus far pursued 



ISABELLA COrXTV. MICIIICAX. 461 

and reap still oreatcr financial rewards is tlie belief of all wiio are familiar 
witli the firm's methods. The personal relations of the memliers of this thriv- 
ing anti popniar firm w ith their fellow men have ever been mutually agreeable, 
and the high esteem in which they are held indicates the universal hold they 
have on the confidence and respect of the people, regardless of class or con- 
dition. 

The firm was started by J. I-'. Chatterton and Howard K. Chatterton. and 
has been doing business under this firm name for over a decade, although 
not all the time in the present line of business. They first engaged in the retail 
grocery and meat business in Mt. Pleasant, which was very .successful and 
was finally disposed of. Huring the time the Chattertons were in this line of 
business they established the most extensive retail grocery trade ever built up 
by any firm in Isabella county, during the last year of their business as grocers 
they sold between seventy and eighty thousand dollars' worth of goods, and 
emjjloyed thirteen persons in their store, which was regarded as a model of 
its kind and one that would have done credit to a much larger city. 

In February, 1903, this firm purchased the Horning elevator, since which 
time they have conducted that business in a most successfid manner, being 
today among the largest and nio.st extensive handlers of all kinds of grain, 
hay. wool, potatoes and apples in this section of Michigan. This firm is also 
very extensively engaged in the handling of beans — in fact, making that line 
of farm produce a specialty, and employing about thirty-five women and girls 
in ])icking beans, thus enabling the shipping of a \ery superior article of the 
hand-picked article to the outside markets. This branch of their business has 
been far more than ordinarily successful, and they have paid as much as 
twenty-five thousand dollars in one month to the farmers of this immense sec- 
tion for that product of the farm. Isabella county farmers are engaging very 
extensively in the raising of beans, the county being among the leaders in this 
state, and the ([uantities handled by this firm shows that these gentlemen have 
established themselves very strongly with the agriculturists of this section, 
enjoying a reputation for honesty, fair dealing, and paying top-of-the-market 
prices seldom gained by any firm. 

The reputation built up Ijy them, however, is not confineil to this locality, 
as intimated in a preceding paragraph. The reputation thev have gained in 
the large cities for placing a strictly first-class article upon the markets puts 
them in a i)osition to command at all times the best of prices and make ready 
sales, thus enabling them to pay the farmer the very best figure. Xot only do 
the\- ship quite extensively to all parts of the United States, but quite a num- 
ber of car loads of beans, v hich have been shipped by them, have been ex- 



462 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

ported to foreign markets. This firm also does an extensive coal and wood 
business among the citizens of ]\It. I'leasant and \-icinity. 

J. E. Chatterton, deceased, the senior member of this firm, was born of an 
excellent old New England family, his birth occurring in the state of Ver- 
mont on December 7, 1839. There he spent his early boyhood and attended 
school some. In 185 1 he accompanied his parents to Michigan, locating on a 
farm in Meridian township. Ingham county, four miles east of Lansing. 
There young Chatterton completed his education, also attended the Lansing 
schools, and later took a three years' course in the agricultural college of this 
state, near that city. He then attended the Eastman Business College, at 
Poughkeepsie, New York, from which institution he was graduated in 1863. 
In the meantime he had engaged in teaching school, having taught six winter 
terms very successfully, from 1859 to 1865. Thus well equipped for a busi- 
ness career, he formed a partnership, in 18^16, with his brother, George A., 
and together they established a mercantile business at Hubbardston. Ionia 
county, this state. Four years later Mr. Chatterton purchased his brother's 
interest, continuing to manage the business until the spring of 1880. In that 
year he moved to Mt. Pleasant, and since that time has been in active business 
in this city, at all times being very closely allied with every movement which 
has tended toward the upbuilding of Mt. Pleasant, and always showing that 
he had tlie true interest of the citv at heart. 

It was through the instrumentality and perseverance of Mr. Chatterton 
that the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company was organized, and for five 
years, from 1895 to 1900. he acted as its secretary. The management of such 
an organization is very largely in the hands of its secretary, and much of the 
success of the company is due to the foundation laid by Mr. Chatterton during 
those years. He is a man of keen discernment, wise foresight and sound judg- 
ment, an organizer and promoter by nature and he carries to successful issue 
whate\'er he turns his attention to. and his life has lieen such as t<> warrant 
the high esteem and confidence in which he is held In- all who know him. 

Mr. Chatterton was married on April 28, 1867, to A. Elizabeth Adams, 
of Shiawassee county, Michigan. 

The junior member of the firm of J. E. Chatterton & Son, Howard E. 
Chatterton. a man of marked business aliility and commendable attributes of 
both head and heart, was born at Hubljardston. Alichigan, on March 16, 
1872. where he recei\ed his early schooling, later attending the Michigan Agri- 
cultural College, at Lansing, and the Central Michigan Normal College in Mt. 
Pleasant. He made a splendid record in these institutions and earl\- in life 
launched out in a successful business career. 



is.\hi:li.a lolntv. Michigan. 463 

In 1895 the younger Cliatterton engaged in tlie grocery business at 
Bowling Green, Ohio, two years later disposing of his mercantile interests and 
engaging with a large wholesale house at Toledo as salesman and purchasing 
agent. Here he continued with his usual success until 1898. when he re- 
turned to Mt. Pleasant and became a member of the lirm of Chattertcju & 
Son. j. E. Chatterton died on August 3, 1907. and Howard then incorporated 
the business of which he is manager and principal stockholder. He has also 
bougiit an interest in and is president of the \\'hitney-Taylor Companw 
manufacturers of hul) blocks and concrete tiling, being the largest tile (con- 
crete) manufacturers in the world. He is an indefatigal)le wnrker and tiie 
notable high grade and honorable methods which he ever employs in his busi- 
ness life, and in fact in all the relations with his fellow men, have brought the 
rewards due him, and he stands today .second to none in the industrial world, 
and is popular with ;ill classes of citizens, being a good mixer and a straight- 
forward, unassuming gentleman of correct principles. 

Mr. Chatterton was married to Minnie H. Harris, of this city, in iNc;-. 
She is a ladv of culture and refinement and the representative of one of the 
old and influential families here. 



R.MJ'll (i. H.\KRIS. 



In the constant and laborious struggle for an honorable C(jmi)etence and 
a creditable name on the part of business or professional men, there is some- 
thing to attract tlie reader in the career of an individual who. e;irly in life, 
gi\es e\idence of traits that lead to ultimate success, when properly directed, 
as they have evidently been done in the case of Ralph G. Harris, a well known 
and progressive business man of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. With little other 
means than a sound nn'nd ;;nd fertile ])erception, he has won a place in the 
industri.'d world, and, what is to be more highly esteemed, the conhdence and 
gocjcl will of his fellow men. 

Mr Harris comes of ar excellent old fann'K- which is given proper men- 
tion on another page of this wurk. He was born in Mt. Pleasant. Januarv 
Z"/. 1884. and here he grew to maturity and attended the local schools, grad- 
uating from the high school, b^arly in life he gave evidence of ability along 
journalistic lines, especially the l)usiness side of it. and started in the magazine 
business in 1904. For a period of three years he was connected with the ad- 
vertising dejiartment of the Outing Publishing Companv and was managing 



464 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

editor of the Retailer and Advertiser Magazine for a period of four years, 
during which time this popular trade magazine gained rapidly in circulation 
and general prestige. He wrote for various trade papers and his articles 
never failed to attract an interested audience. He resided at Deposit, New 
York (the famous magazine center), two years, also lived in New York city 
four years successfully engaged in his chosen line of endeavor. He is an in- 
dependent thinker, a wide reader, familiar with the world's Ijest literature 
and keeps abreast of the times in modern thought and investigation. 

Mr. Harris resigned his position in New York and returned to Mt. Pleas- 
ant, Michigan, in 1908, and purchased a general bakery and refreshment par- 
lors, which he is now successfully conducting, enjoying a very extensive 
patronage in the city, county and adjoining localities. He has a beautiful and 
well-equipped soda fountain and his place of business is always filled with 
customers. 

On December 18, 1906. Mr. Harris was united in marriage with Cecil 
M. Wright, of Deposit, New York, a lady of culture, education and refine- 
ment and the representative of a fine New England family. This union has 
l:)een graced by the birth of two children, John G. and Catherine H. 

Fraternally, Mr. Harris is a member of the Masonic order, ha\ing at- 
tained the Royal Arch degree, and he belongs to the chapter at Mt. Pleasant ; 
also the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Mt. Pleasant. 



JUDGE PETER F. DODDS. 

Standing out distinctly as one of the central figures of the judiciary of 
southern Michigan is the name of Judge Peter F. Dodds, of Mt. Pleasant. 
Isabella county, the present able and popular judge of the circuit court. 
Prominent in legal circles and equally so in public matters beyond the con- 
fines of his own jurisdiction, with a reputation in one of the most exacting of 
professions that has won him a name for distinguished service second tn that 
of none of his contemporaries, there is today no more prominent or honored 
man in the locality long dignified by his citizenship. Achieving success in the 
courts at an age when most young men are just entering upon the formati\-e 
period of their lives, wearing the judicial ermine with laecoming dignity and 
bringing to every case submitted to him a clearness of perception and ready 
power of analysis characteristic of the learned jurist, his name and work for 
years has been allied with the legal institutions, public enterprises and political 




HON. PETIiR F. UODDS 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 465 

interests of the county and state in sucli a way as to earn liini recognition as 
one of the distinguished citizens in a community noted for the high order of 
its talent. A high purpose and an unconqueralile will, vigorous mental pow- 
ers, diligent study and dex'otion to duty are some of the means by which he 
has made himself eminently useful, and every ambitious youth who fights the 
battle of life with the prospect of ultimate success may peruse with ])n)fit llie 
biography herewith presented. 

Judge Dodds is a scion of a sterling old family, and he was born on Janu- 
ary 4, 1849, '" S*^- I^awrence county, Xew York, the son of John and Catherine 
(Hoy) Dodds, who, after spending their early )-ears in that state, emigrated 
to Coe township. Isabella county, Michigan, in 1866, and thev took up their 
abode in Mt. Pleasant in 1875, the father's death occurring here on December 
3, 1879. He was a man of honor and integrity. His son. Peter F., had re- 
ceived a good primarj^ education in his native state. He was seventeen vears 
of age when he came to Isabella county, and here he soon began life for him- 
self as a teacher, when nineteen years old, continuing successfully for several 
years. Deciding to turn his attention to the law. he attended the State Nor- 
mal School in order to lay a broader foundation and was graduated from the 
same in 1874, after teaching some time, having read law while thus engaged. 
In 1875 he was admitted to the bar at Ithaca, and he l>ecame a partner of 
I. .\. Fancher, and D. Scott Partridge was also for a time associated with 
them. In 1880 Mr. Fancher having moved to Detroit, his brother. Francis H. 
( now a member of Congress ), and later his older brothers, George E. and Wil- 
liam I., were partners. 

In 1880 the subject was elected prosecuting attorney and served one term. 
He also .served on the county board of school examiners. In .\pril. 1893. 
he was elected judge of the circuit court and since January i, 1894, has dis- 
charged the duties of this important trust in a manner that has brought the 
highest encomium from all, irrespective of party alignment. 

Fraternally, the Judge is a memlier of Lodge Xo. 305. Free and .\ccepted 
Masons, Mt. Pleasant Chapter Xo. 1 1 1. Royal Arch Masons, and of the Ithaca 
Commandery. Knights Templar, and one would judge from his dailv walk 
l)efore his fellow men that he endeavors to carry their high precepts into his 
every relation with his fellow men. In 1882 Olivet College conferred upon 
him the degree of P.achelor of .\rts and later the degree of Master of Arts. 

On April 20, 1876, Judge Dodds was married to Minnie E. Bouton. the 
re])resentative of a highly honored family, being the daughter of Henrj' S. and 
Cornelia A. Bouton, of Mt. Pleasant. She was born in Homer. Calhoun 
countv, Michigan, March 12. 1859. 

' (30) 



466 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

They have one son, Fabian Bouton Dodds, born December 18, 1884, who 
graduated from 'Sit. Pleasant high school at sixteen years. He afterwards 
graduated at Central State Normal School, life course: at twenty he gradu- 
ated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts at the Uni\ersity of Michigan ; at 
twenty-two he graduated from the University of Michigan as ]\Iaster of Arts 
and Bachelor of Laws. He is now practicing law at Spokane, Washington. 
He married Nell Garnett Hclden, of Spokane, August 3. 1910. 



WILBER E. PRESTON. 

A well known and successful real estate dealer of Mt. Pleasant, who has 
long enjoyed distinctive prestige among the enterprising citizens of Isabella 
county is Wilber E. Preston, who has fought his way onward and upward to 
a prominent position in industrial circles, and in every relation of life his 
voice and influence has been on the side of right as he sees and understands 
the right. He has always been interested in every enterprise for the general 
welfare of the community and liberally supports every movement calculated to 
benefit his fellow men, and he therefore has the confidence, the esteem and the 
good will of all who know him, and his office is always a busy place. He may 
be found at No. 191 Chippewa street. 

Mr. Preston is the representative of a sterling old Eastern family, his 
birth having occurred in Java township, Wyoming county, New York, on 
October 21, 1854. He is the son of Albert A. and Martha A. (Nichols) 
Preston, the father born .-\ugust 16, 1827, at Stratford, Orange county, Ver- 
mont, and died at Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, July 25, 18S3: the mother was 
born at Keene, New Hampshire, April 16, 1833, and died at Mt. Pleasant, 
Michigan, in February, 1900. Albert A. Preston's father, William Preston, 
was born at Stratford, Orange county, Vermont, June 2S. 1803, and died at 
Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, November 10, 1881. The latter's wife, known in 
her maidenhood as Mary Fisk, was born January 31, 1806, and died in Mt. 
Pleasant, this county, February 10, 1888. William and Mary (Fisk) Preston 
were married September 7, 1824. and removed to Java, Wyoming county, 
New York, in October, 1835. William Preston's father, Robert G.. was born 
August 12, 1766: he married Hanna Brown, born December 6, 1770, their 
wedding occurring at Chester, New Hampshire. May 11, 1786. Robert G. 
Preston's parents, Edward and Edna (Greenough) Preston, were married 
January 2y. 1763. Marv (Fisk) Preston's father was born at Boscawen, New 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 467 

Hampshire. April i8. 1773. and Iier mother was born at Xewberry, Massa- 
chusetts. May 28. 1777. 'I'hey were married June 22. 1795. 

Albert A. Preston grew to manhood in Wyoming county. New York, 
acquiring a good education, and there he met, won and married Martiia A. 
Xichols. the daughter of George and Mary (Robinson) Xichols. They were 
married Ajiril 13, 1851, and this union resulted in the birth of five children, 
namcl}': Mary E., born in Ja\a township, Wyoming county, Xew York. De- 
cember 15, 1852, married Arthur R. Caldwell and they are now living in 
Moneta, Los Angeles county, California; Wilber E., of this review, was next 
in order of birth ; Alice .\., l)orn in the same locality in Xew York, F'ebruary 
20, i860, married William Atkins, of Isabella county, Michigan, and her death 
occurred at Mt. Pleasant, October 27,, 1907, and her husband is also deceased; 
David D., born in Lincoln township, Isabella county. Michigan. May 19, 
1864. died when three and one-half years of age: B. W. Preston, born in the 
same locality, December 16, 1867, married Xellie Calhoon, and is now living 
at Xo. 504 South Fancher avenue, Mt. Pleasant. 

Albert A. Preston came to Isal>ella county, Michigan, in March, 1863, 
and purchased from a man named Smith his "squatter" rights to the south- 
west (|uarter of section 2, Lincoln township, for fifty dollars. Smith had 
cleared three acres and erected a log cabin, roofing the same with elm bark. 
Returning to Xew York for his family, Mr. Preston sold his modest home 
there and with a team of horses and a "democrat" wagon brought the family 
to Buffalo, where they all embarked for Detroit by boat ; arriving at Detroit, 
the family drove the one hundred and forty miles, much of the way through 
woods and over corduroy roads, to their new home in Isabella county, coming 
by way of St. Johns, reaching Isabella county May 18, 1863. W lun entering 
the southern portion of Gratiot county, Mr. Preston met his fellow settlers 
on their way to Ionia, where they hoped to be able to prevent the ''speculators," 
as thev were called, from buying u]) their lands before they, the actual settlers, 
had opportunity to prove up their squatter claims and get certificates showing 
thev had a right to their lands for homesteading. Only two weeks were to be 
allowed settlers in which to prove up their claims, after which the lands were 
to be oi)ened for purchase regardless of squatters' rights. Learning this fact. 
Mr. Prestnn hurried his family on to the home of his sister, Mrs. Samuel 
Woodworth, then living on the southeast quarter of section 11, Lincoln town- 
ship, where he left them and, taking one of the horses, rode back to Ionia to 
join the others and prove u]) his claim or rights to the land purchased from 
Mr. Smith, .\rriving at Ionia, Mr. Preston learned that only those settlers' 
rights would be recognized whose families were at the time living on the 
land claimed, which fact must be proven by at least one reputable witne.ss. 



468 ISABFLLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

Thereupon ]\Ir. Preston's brother-in-law, Samuel Woodworth, started back 
home, mounted on the same weary horse, to take the family over to the log 
cabin in the woods with its elm bark roof, and leave them. Fitting up the 
"democrat" wagon, Mr. Woodworth hitched the same horse to it and took 
the family to their new home, ate dinner with them, cooked over a camp-fire 
out of doors, returned to his home and, mounting the other horse, rode back to 
Ionia and testified that he had seen the family of Albert A. Preston in their 
home on their farm, and had eaten dinner with them there. Mr. Preston thus 
secured his certificate and. in due course of time, his patent for the land, 
which remained for over forty-five years in possession of his family. It is 
needless to say that the family followed 'Sir. \\'oodworth back to his home as . 
soon as they felt certain that he had departed for Ionia again and remained 
there until the husband and father returned to them. 

Albert A. Preston developed a good farm here and became an influential 
citizen, honored and respected by all. From 1881 he made his home in Mt. 
Pleasant and assisted in erecting many of the first buildings in the place, in- 
cluding the first three stores, and he did much for the general development 
of the town and community. 

\\'ilber E. Preston grew to maturity on the home farm and earh- in life 
knew the meaning of hard work. He received a good education in the public 
schools of his community and in the graded schools of Mt. Pleasant, and in a 
persistent study and reading of his pri\-ate lilirary. one of the best in the city 
of Mt. Pleasant. In 1870, when eighteen years of age. he taught his first 
school near where the village of Winn now stands, then an unbroken wilder- 
ness of woods. The following winter he taught in what was known as the 
"Green district." boarding round among the patrons of the school. He next 
taught one year in what was then known as the Williamson school, one mile 
west of the present village of Winn. Thereafter Mr. Preston taught only 
during the winter months, working upon the farm during the summer time 
and attending the schools of Mt. Pleasant for a short time each fall under 
the instruction of Samuel Clay, Charles O. Curtis and Peter F. Dodds. the 
latter being the present circuit judge of the district in which Mt. Pleasant is 
located. Continuing his work as teacher and student for ten years, Mr. 
Preston then abandoned teaching and devoted his entire energies to his farm 
until July 10, 1890. when he, in company with the late E. S. Bowen. purchased 
the Northzi'cstern Tribune, a weekly newspaper published in Mt. Pleasant, 
and took charge of the paper as editor. In the fall of 1890, during the soldiers 
and sailors' encampment at Mt. Pleasant, Mr. Preston edited and published 
the first and only daily paper that city has so far had. In the spring of 1901 



ISABilLLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 469 

Mr. Preston sold liis interest in {heXortlrnrslcni Tribune to Iiis partner and 
accepted a position as secretary of tiie Land, Loan and Title Guarantee Com- 
I)any. This company owned the only abstract Ixjoks of the county, furnished 
abstracts and ta.x histories, guaranteed titles, loaned money and bought and 
sold real estate. In 1897 Mr. Preston resigned his position and accepted an 
appointment as one of the receivers of the defunct People's Savings Bank of 
Mt. Pleasant, in company with Elton J. Van Leuvan and L. E. Royal, Mr. 
\"an Leuvan resigning his post to accept the position of cashier of anotiier 
bank just organized. Mr. Preston shortly afterwards resigned his position 
as receiver and opened an aljstract, loan and insurance office, in the fall of 
1898, which jjusiness he has followed very successfully to the present time, his 
office comprising a neat and convenient suite of rooms in the Commercial 
Bank block, known as "Bank Chambers." Mr. Preston has always been in- 
terested in farming and still owns a tine farm of one hundred and thirty acres 
which is well improved and which he personally superintends. 

.Mr. Preston is a Republican, lie has been twice elected commissioner 
of public schools of his township, three times elected as superintendent of 
schools of his township, once elected as justice of the peace of his township, 
four times chosen as treasurer of the same and twice as supervisor while re- 
siding in Lincoln township, resigning the office of supervisor in 1890, 
when he removed to Mt. Pleasant. He was chosen chairman of the Business 
Men's Association of Mt. Pleasant, served three years on the board of educa- 
tion and five years as a member of the board of public works, and now holds 
the position of the county agent of the state board of correction and charities 
imder a])pointment of the governor. In c\en- position of public trust he has 
proven himself an earnest, able and conscientious servant of the peoi)le and 
given the utmost satisfaction to all. regardless of party alignment. 

In religious matters Mr. Preston is a member of the L'nitarian churcli, 
and fraternally he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights 
of the Maccabees and the Court of Honor. 

In March, 1908. Mr. Preston, with others, organized and had incorporated 
the Isal)€lla County Humane Society, the purposes of which, as stated in the 
articles of incorporation, are "The impressing and diffusing of the principles 
of humanity and mercy, and the enforcement of laws for the prevention and 
punishment of cruelty to children and animals, birds and fowls." Mr. Preston 
was chosen president of this society and still fills the position. 

On February 22, 1877, Mr. Preston was united in marriage with Marilla 
J. .\bbott. daughter of an excellent and highly respected old family, and she ac- 
quired a good education and taught one term of school before her marriage. 
She is a member of tlie Unitarian church and the Ladies of the Maccabees. 



4/0 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Her fatlier, Harrison Abl>ott. died September i8. 1907. and lier mother, 
known in her maidenhood as Martiia \\'aning. is now H\ing at Shepherd. 
Michigan. 

To Mr. and ]\lrs. Preston the following children have been born : Harold 
A., born June 30, 1884. is a graduate of the School for the Deaf of Michigan 
and of Gallaudet College of Washington. D. C, married Belle \'an Ostrand, 
of Mason. Michigan, October 27, 1910; she was a former student of Gallaudet 
College, and later a teacher in the Michigan School for the Deaf; they reside 
in their own beautiful home at No. 1106 Lyon street, Flint, Michigan, in 
w hich city Harold A. Preston is engaged as one of the assemblers and finishers 
of the automobile bodies at the Buick automobile works. Ethel I. Preston, 
born March 31, 1886, is a graduate of the Central State Normal School; 
she prepared herself for a teacher, but is at present homekeeper for her father 
and younger brother and sister, during a visit of her mother in southern Cali- 
fornia. Harriet Fisk Preston was born October 21. 1889, is a graduate of 
the Central State Normal School, and is in charge of music and drawing in 
the schools of Elk Rapids, Michigan. Isabella, born November 16, 1893, died 
in infancy. Marion Morse Preston was born October 21, 1895, and is a high 
school pupil. Bliss Abbott Preston was born August 2, 1900. and is now a 
student in the fifth grade of the Normal Training School. 



MICHAEL E. KANE. 

The notable success achieved by the subject of this review, together 
with his honorable record as a public-spirited citizen, has made his name al- 
most a household word throughout the township in which he lives and as 
one of the notable men of his day and generation in his adopted county, it is 
hoped that the following review of his life may influence some young men 
at the parting of the ways to imitate his example. 

Patrick Kane, the subject's father, was a native of Londonderry county, 
Ireland, but when a youth he came to America and grew to maturity in New 
Brunswick, where he began life for himself as a lumberman. He married in 
that country about the year 1835 and a little later secured a homestead in 
western Canada, to which place he had remo\'ed shortly after his marriage 
This homestead consisted of one hundred and thirty-five acres, which he con- 
verted into a fine farm and on which he and his good wife spent the remainder 
of their days, both dying a number of years ago. Their family consisted of 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 47 1 

six cliildren : Mary nianicil Joliii Cdlcmaii and li\es in Canada: John died 
some years ago on a ImmestA-ad in Ontario: James, whose wife was a Miss 
Hudson, is living in the latter proxince. as is Daniel, who has remaineil single; 
Michael, the subject of this sketch, is the fifth in the order of birth; the sixth 
was Mrs. Anna McRae, who died in Canada; the youngest being Margaret, 
who is unmarried and occupying a Canada homestead. 

Michael E. Kane was liorn on December 20, 1845. ''i ^I'ddlesex county, 
Ontario, and remained in his native pro\ince until eighteen years old, attending 
school in the meanwhile and making rapid advancement in his studies. Pos- 
sessing a fine mind and an aptitude for learning, he was enabled, at the early 
age of sixteen, to pass the required examination and obtain a license entitling 
him to teach in the public schools. He taught two terms before his eighteenth 
year, after which he attended school 'until sufficiently advanced to obtain a 
first class license, securing which he went to New Brunswick, but not to 
engage in educational work, as he took up the trade of harness making in the 
citv of Frederickston soon after reaching that province. .After l^ecoming a 
skilled workman he returned home and during the six months ensuing stayed 
with his parents and helped with the labor of the farm. At the end of that 
time he started to California, but owing to scarcity of means only got as far 
as Detroit. Michigan, near which city he found employment during the sum- 
mer of that \ear on a farm and the following winter worked on Cedar ri\er 
in Gladwin county, this state. For the next ten years he devoted his time to 
farm labor and log driving, the latter principally, and during that period 
saved sufficient money to buy one hundred and ten acres of land southwest of 
Mt. Pleasant, in Isabella county, for which he paid the sum of three thousand 
dollars. By the end of the summer he bad expended in improvements the 
remaining si.x hundred of the amount he had saved and one hundred dollars 
more, but the money was put to good use and in due time returned a hand- 
some margin on the investment. 

In Jimc. 1875. at .Ann Arbor. Mr. Kane was united in marriage to Mary 
Hagen and immediately thereafter brought his bride to Lsabella county and, 
setting U]) his domestic establishment on his farm in L'ninn township, began 
giving his entire attention to agriculture. F>om time to time he added to 
his land and made a number of improvements, among which were twD large 
barns, fortv by sixty feet each and basements, a third barn, twenty by forty 
feet, for young cattle, and an imposing brick residence, the main body thirty 
bv thirty feet, the wing sixteen by twenty feet, the building complete in every 
part, hanrlsomely finished and sujiijlied with the latest modern conveniences. 
All of his buildings are up-to-<late and equipped with lalior-saving devices. 



472 ISABELLA COUNTY, Mil IllCAN. 

aiiiimj:^- ilk- l.illiT a large wiixl mill wliioli sniiplii's water in ihr liani and vari- 
ous parts i>l' llu- premises, besides maiiv' iitlu-r iniprnxemi'iils, suc'li ,is men nl 
his ample means and enterprising spirit ean atli>rd and as lew ntlier larms 
in this pari tii" the slate contain. Among the later accessions tn Mr. Kane's 
est.ite .ire the two eiglUv-acre tracts adjnining the place on the east, which 
hi' ]inich;ised snnie wars ;ig(i, making twu luindretl ami se\ent\' .acres in a 
single h(id\. all exceeilingly line land with inndern imprnvements cm tlie differ- 
ent parts, lie al.so honght twenty acres across the road from the original 
farm .and later an additional (Hie hnndred and thirty acres in the same sectimi. 
thus swelling his realty to four hnndred and twenty acres, whicii w;is among 
the Largest indi\idnal holdifigs in the county. P>y reason of advancing age 
and the desire lo free himself from the cares and responsihilities of tnanaging 
such a large estate, Mr. Kane, in January, ujio. sold the two hundred and 
seventy acres for the handsome sum of twenty-two thousand dollars, <ine of 
the highest prices e\er paid for land in this countw lie still owns a splendid 
f,-irm <t\ one hundred and fifty acres, which is largely debited to stock raising, 
the ri\er running through the place affording ample water and drainage and 
esiJCcialK adapted to this important hrauch of agriculture. 

Mr. Kane made much of his money from fine stock and when actively 
engaged in f.arniing never kept fewer than one hundred head of line cattle 
;nid from thirt\ to lift\ hogs of the hest hreeds. for which animals there w;is 
alwaws a deinaud at the highest prices the m.arket afforded. Since ]>ractically 
retiring from active life, he has kept no live stock, only looking after the gen- 
eral management of the farm ami attending to his other interests, which, hv 
the w.ay, are large and imiioitaut. hut not of sufficient magnitude to keep him 
from enjoxing the rest and leisure which he has so ahly earned and to which he 
is so ln)norahly entitled. flie large price which he received for the farm 
recently sold was not oiiK a surprise, hut a re\el;ition to his tellow citizens 
thionghout the couiitw as it oiieiied their eyes to the merits and \alne of land 
in this part of the state and slimiilated many oi them to imitate his examjile 
in the matter of impnnements and proper agricultural methods. Mis suc- 
cess came to him as the residt of well directed lahor and judicious manage- 
ment, and wli.il he has accomplished he helieves others can accomplish, pro- 
vided their efforts be controlled 1)\' sound jmlgment and wise fiiresight. 

Mr. Kane has long been one of the leading farmers of Isabella county 
.ind has .ibniidant reasons to be proud of his record as such, lie has also 
been inlluential in the affairs of his township and county and. possessing many 
of the elements of leadership, his judgment has frequently l)een consulted by 
his neighbors and friends and his o]iinions hax'c ex'cr carried weight and com- 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MUIIIGAX. 473 

manded respect aincmg his fellow citizens. Integrity and a high sense of 
honor have ciiaracterized his relations with others, and his personal popularity 
is lx)unded only hy the limits of his acquaintance. Few citizens of the county 
have as many friends and none ha\e shown themselves more deserving of 
friendship and confidence, .\mong the ])ul)lic enterprises witii which his name 
is associate*! are the l^'armers Mutual Insurance Compan\-. n\ Isaliella cnunty, 
and the Gold Reserve Insurance Company, having heen president of the latter 
ever since its organization, ahout twenty years ago. He has served si.xteen 
years as supervisor of Union township and pro\ed a most capable and faith- 
ful official. gi\'ing to the duties of the pnsition the same care and consideration 
dis])layed in the management of his own interests. Fraternally, he lielongs 
to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Mt. Pleasant, and the Knights 
of the Maccabees at the same place, and ever since old enough to exercise 
the right of citizenship he has wielded a strong influence for the Democratic 
party. For fourteen years he has been chairman of the Democratic county 
committee and for sixteen years he has been President of the Isabella County 
Agricultural Society. 

Mr. and Mrs. Kane are the parents of four children, namely: Sarah, 
who married John Carl and died some years ago in Pennsyhania ; John, who 
is in the West; Xellie, wife of Merrill Gee, lives in Lakeview ; Arthur, who 
is the youngest of the family and unmarried, is at Big Rapids attending school. 



JAMES MacKERSIE. 

The sul)ject of this sketch is one of the widely known citizens of the 
township in which he resitles. having come to this part of Isabella county 
forty-three years ago, since which time he has been acti\ely identified with 
the \aried interests of his community. James MacKersie was born January 
15, 1838, in Glasgow, Scotland, and when five years of age accompanied his 
parents to the city of Perth. Ontario, where he sjient the five years ensuing. 
.\t the expiration of tliat lime he emigrated with the family to \\'aterloo 
county. Ontario, where he remained four years, removing thence to the county 
of Huron, where he made his home for a period of eight years, in the mean- 
time, 1861, having united in marriage with Maria Johnson, who was born in 
England. 

Shortly after his marriage Mr. MacKersie came to Michigan and for one 
}ear worked as a farm hand near Detroit. He then moved to a point about 



474 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

four miles from tliat city wl'.ere he supported liimself and wife by daily labor 
for a peri(jd of two years, removing at the expiration of that time to Clinton 
county, where he devoted the ensuing year to farm work and the manufacture 
of staves. In October, 1866, he made a tour through Isabella county and, 
being pleased with Coldwater township, located a homestead in section 28. 
immediatel}- after which he went tcj Ionia to pay the gox'ernment fees on his 
land. Returning to his homestead in Xovember, he erected a log cabin to 
which he brought his faiuily, consisting of his wife and two children in Febru- 
ary, 1867. After li\ing on his homestead six years and making a number of 
improvements, he discontinued farming to enter the employ of Amos John- 
son, a merchant of Sherman City, for whom he clerked during the ensuing 
six years, becoming familiar with every phase of the goods business in the 
meantime. 

Later Mr. MacKersie worked for several years at different vocations, a 
part of the time being manager of a store on the Chippewa river, and when 
John Cameron started a general mercantile establishment at Sherman City 
he entered that gentleman's employ and continued as his chief clerk for a 
period of nine years. He served twenty-eight years as justice of the peace 
and still holds that office, has been a notary public for thirty-five years, and 
wdien Coldwater township was organized he was appointed its first clerk, in 
addition to which position he also filled the office of super\-isor one term. 
Some years ago he sold his farm and purchased a half acre of ground ad- 
joining the village, on which he erected a commodious and comfortable mod- 
ern dwelling, besides making a number of other improvements, his home at 
this time, with its attractive surroundings, l.ieing one of the most beautiful 
and desirable places of residence in the communitw Mr. MacKersie is an 
accomplished business man and as such is frequently consulted by his neigh- 
bors and friends to whom his judicious counsel and advice have been especially 
valuable, leading to the amicable adjustment of not a few difficulties and mis- 
understandings and preventing much expensive litigation. He is well read 
and widely informed, keeps in touch with the leading cpiestions of the day 
and abreast of the times on all matters in which the public is likelv to l)e 
interested. Personally, he is held in high esteem b}- his neighbors and fel- 
low citizens, his character and integrity having ever been above criticism, and 
he has ahvays kept unsullied the luster of an honorable name. 

I\Ir. and Mrs. MacKersie are the parents of children as follows: Anna 
E., wife of William Powers, lives in Isabella county; Ste|)hen J., who married 
a lady by the name of Nelson, lives in Leeds, North Dakota, his wife dving 
a few years ago ; George A., also a resident of Leeds, married Mildred Tap- 



ISABrLLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN'. 475 

pon : Ellen J. is deceased, as is Maggie, the litth in order of liirih; Jessie, now 
Mrs. Clayton Koch, lives in Grand Rapids, where he is yard master for the 
Pere Marqnette railroad: Charles W. married Anna Loomis and lives at 
Barreton, this state, where he is engaged in the meat business; Flora B., un- 
married, is a stenographer and typewriter at Portland, Michigan: Ciordon F... 
also single, holds ;i position in a grocery store at (Irand Rapids, and Raymond 
A., who is unmarried and li\es in San Francisco. California, is .'i litter nt 
electric machinerv. 



JOSI-.PIl A. STRUBLE. 

The subject of this sketch belongs to an old and well known family of 
Isabella count}-, and combines in his personality many of the sturdy char- 
acteristics for which his aiUecedents were noted. A farmer by occu])ation, 
he has succeeded well at his calling and as a citizen he has always lieen inter- 
ested in the progress of the community, taking an active pari in forwarding 
all legitimate means to this end. 

William W. Struble. the subject's father, was l)orn in Kno.x county, Ohio, 
November fi, 1822. Me married, in that state. Mary Murphy and in the fall 
of i<S64, while bis oldest son was in the army, moved to Isal>ella count)-. 
Michigan, and settled on one hundred and sixty acres of land in Chippewa 
township which he purchased and which in due time he and his sons cleared 
and reduced to cultixation. He served four years as probate judge: was 
five \-ears supervisor of his township, and later served the same length of 
time in a similar capacity in the second ward of Mt. Pleasant. 

William Struble was an intelligent, public spirited man and during his 
life in Isabella county did much to promote the material welfare of the com- 
mumly in which he resided and advance the interest of his fellow citizens. 
He died on the 30th day of July. igo8. his wife in the year 1878. The follow- 
ing are the names of the children born to this couple: John, who married 
Marv Oberlin: Josejjh .\.. of this review: Mary Sabine, deceased: Harriet, 
wife of Wavne I-"osgett. of Ml. Plea.sant : William, deceased: James, who 
married Mary Stearns and lives in the Upper Peninsula: Frank, a resident of 
Chicago. Illinois, married l-'lizabeth Lacock : Elmer, who was accidentally 
killed in the bank at Shepherd: Rachael, deceased, and I'. S.. who married 
Izora Cole and lives in the city of Mt. Pleasant. 

Joseph A. Struble was born January 16. 1848. in Kno.x cipuniy. Ohio, 
and lived in his native state until the removal of the family to Michigan in 



4/6 ISABIXLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

the year 1864. In the meantime he acquired a common school education and 
during the spring and summer months worked on the farm and proved of 
great assistance to his father in the cuhivation of the soil. When abnut 
twenty-one years of age, he received from his father forty acres of the family 
homestead which he cleared and otherwise improved and on which he lived 
for some years, later selling the land and mo\'ing to a farm in section 22, 
Chippewa township. After residing a few years on the latter place, he moved 
to the old Sheldon farm, in the same township, where he has since made his 
home, owning at this time forty acres of as fine land as there is in the county, 
his improvements of all kinds ranking among the best in the neighborhood, 
while his standing as an agriculturist is second to that of none of his con- 
temporaries. 

For some years after beginning life for himself. 'Sir. Struljle experienced 
not a few vicissitudes and, to make both ends meet, was obliged to work 
in the lumber woods during the winter months, devoting the rest of the year 
to clearing his farm and making his improvements. In the meantime he was 
married to Lucretia T. Grinnell, an intelligent and estimable young lady who 
taught in the pul)lic schools and who proved a true wife and helpmeet in 
getting a start in the world. During his early struggles and trials, she as- 
sisted him with her counsel and encouragement, and to her advice and co- 
operation is- much of his later success directly due. I\Ir. Struble has a fine 
farm, a comfortable and attracti\-e home and is the possessor of a sufiiciency 
of this world's goods to place him in independent circumstances. He has been 
honored from time to time with important official trusts, having served eight 
years as township treasurer, three years as .school director, eight years as as-. 
sessor. and for a period of four years held the position of super\-isor in his 
township, and is now superintendent of the poor of the county, in all of which 
positions he displayed business ability of a high order and proved a faithful 
and conscientious public servant. In politics he is an unswerving Republican 
and, judging by the number of times he has been favored with public places, 
it is easily perceived that he is an active worker for his party and an influential 
factor in winning success at the polls. Fraternally he belongs to the Chip- 
pewa lodge of Gleaners, and all worthy enterprises for the general good find 
in him an enthusiastic advocate and liberal patron. Enjoying to a marked 
degree the confidence of his neighbors and friends, esteemed for his integrity 
and high ideals of manhood and citizenship, his purposes have ever been up- 
right and honorable, his life fraught with good to those with wliom he mingles, 
and he is today one of the notable men of the community in which he resides. 

yir. and Mrs. Struble have a pleasant home which has been blessed bv 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 477 

tlie hirtli uf the following cliililrcn: Xeilie J., who married Frank Ilardgrove, 
is living in Mt. Pleasant, her husband lieing deceased: Cora E., who married 
A. J. Olson, is living in Wisconsin; Myrta married Corwin Ilardgrove, and 
she is working as a stenographer in Mt. Pleasant: .\ll)ert married Maud l^llis 
and lives in Chippewa township: Mary and Hattie died in infancy. There 
are seven grandchildren anil one great-grandchild. 



JOHN' W. CURTIS. 



The success achieved by the gentleman whose name introduces this 
sketch entitles him to a prominent place among the representative men of the 
countv in which he resides and his influence in the various s])heres of activity 
to which his talents have been devoted has won for him a large place in the 
esteem of the public and marked prestige as a citizen. John W. Curtis is a 
native of New York, a state to which not only Michigan but the entire central 
and northwestern parts of the repul)lic are largely indebted for the class of 
substantial, enterprising men who add solidity to the body politic and consti- 
tuted so much of the moral bone and sinew of the populace. His birth oc- 
curred in Genesee county, February i_^. iS4(). being a son of Waldo W. Curtis 
and .M.'irgaret McHugh, the former born at Naples, Xew \'ork. in 1S20, the 
latter in Ireland about the year 1825. These parents were married in the 
Empire state and there spent the remainder of their lives, the father dying in 
the month of December, 1857, the mother following him to the grave in .\ug- 
ust of the year 1875. 

The early life of John W. Curtis was spent in the county of his birth and 
at the pnjper age he entered the district schools, the training thus received 
being afterwards supplemented by a course in the Cary Collegiate Seminary 
where he made substantial progress in the higher branches of learning. He 
was reared to agricultured pursuits and while still a youth decided to devote 
his life to that honorable calling, but the high price of land in Xew York 
caused him to look elsewhere for a more favoralile place in which to seek his 
fortune. Having heard and read much of Michigan and its advantages in 
the wav of cheap lands, he finally decided to ascertain for himself; accord- 
inglv. in the fall of 1868. he came to this state. .After living at various places 
during the seven years ensuing, he moved, in the spring of 1875, to Isabella 
countv and purchased one hundred and sixty acres in .section 4, Fremont 
township, where he has since lived and prospered. When Mr. Curtis took 



478 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

possession of his land there were sixty acres cleared and otherwise inditYerent- 
ly improved, but in due time he cut away the forest growth and reduced the 
greater part of the place to cultivation, besides inaugurating a series of im- 
provements which have added greatly to the beauty and value of the farm. 

During the past thirty-five years Mr. Curtis has dealt quite extensively 
in real estate, making judicious investments from time to time and realizing 
handsome profits from his sales; meanwhile he cleared in excess of three 
hundred acres and now owns a valuable tract of three hundred and ninety 
acres which is devoted to general farming, and in which are some of the best 
improvements in the locality, his buildings of all kinds being first class and in 
excellent repair and everything in the premises indicating the close attention 
and progressive spirit manifested by the proprietor in the prosecution of his 
labors. In connection with agriculture Mr. Curtis is still interested in real 
estate and his deals have resulted largely to his advantage, as is indicated by 
his independent circumstances and solid financial standing. He is essentially 
a self-made man, as he came West with only meager means and during the 
interval between 1875 and 1883 worked for monthly wages in the lumlier 
woods, the earnings from this source enabling him to add to his original 
purchase, as stated above, and obtain the start which since then has made him 
one of the well-to-do men of his adopted county. 

Mr. Curtis served two terms of two years each as official surveyor of 
Isabella county, three terms as supervisor and in 1892 was elected to repre- 
sent the county in the state Legislature, making the race on the Independent 
party ticket and defeating his competitor by a veiy decisive majority. He 
made an honorable record in the General Assembly, serving on several im- 
portant committees, where his opinions and judgment commanded respect, 
and he also took an active part in the general deliberations on the floor of the 
chamber, proving under all circumstances a judicious legislator who looked 
carefully after the interests of his constituents and was instrumental in the 
passage of a number of laws of great advantage to the state. He has always 
manifested an active interest in public affairs and his influence in moulding 
thought and shaping opinion is second to that of none of his contemporaries. 
Like the majority of enterprising men, he is identified with the Masonic 
fraternitv and for some years he has lieen a leading member of Cedar Valley 
Lodge No. 383. and Mt. Pleasant Chapter No. iii. Royal Arch Masons, in 
both of which branches of the order he has been honored from time to time 
with important official trusts. 

In the vear 1880 Mr. Curtis contracted a matrimonial alliance with Mina 
Hev, who was born June 17. 1865. in Jackson county, Michigan, being a 



ISABKLLA COfXTY, MKIIIGANr 4/9 

daughter uf Charles lley and Mary W ieter, both natives of Germany. These 
parents were born in the years 1840 and 1842, respectively, and have spent 
their married life in the Uriited States, their ln)nie at the present time being 
the village of Montcalm. Isabella county, where they are highly esteemed by a 
large circle of friends. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis are the parents of fifteen chil- 
dren, as follows: One born January 6, 1882, died May 24, 1882. unnamed; 
liemy W'.. bnrn August 29. 1883. married Marjorie E. Croskery August 10, 
1910. and is employed as salesman in the B. M. Adams store at Winn : James 
C, born June 9. 1885. married Bculah A. Curtiss March 9. 1905, and is also 
employed at the B. M. Adams store: Dwight Z.. born April 20, 1887. married 
Pearl O. Riggle December 2~. 1905: Ida M.. torn December 27, 1888, died 
February 2. 1889: Margaret M., born May 11, 1890. married F. Lenon Ray- 
mond March 25. 1909: Fannie L.. born May 26. 1892. who is li\ing at home, 
as arc all the other children: Carrie M.. born June 10. 1894; W. White, 
born February 29, 1896: Agnes S. and Adaline B., twins, born July 20, 1898; 
.Adaline B. died July 21, 1906: Clara E., born April 3, 1901 : Oscar O.. born 
Januaiy i. 1903; Myron S. and Myriam, twins, born January 15. 1907: 
.Mvriani died at birth. 



JOSEPH WILLIAM HOUSE. 

The subject of this sketch, a well known and highly esteemed farmer of 
Isabella county and one of the enterprising citizens of the community in 
which he resides, is an older brother of H. S. G. House, whose sketch appears 
elsewhere in these pages, and a son of George and Sarah A. House, who are 
also noticed in this volume at some length. Mr. House is of English blood 
and first saw the light of day in the town of Walton. Somersetshire. Eng- 
land. March 8, 1853. He accomjjanied his parents to America in iSfiq, and 
remained with his father, helping with the work of the farm until 1880, 
when he began the struggles of life for himself as a laborer in the pineries. 
He worked in the woods during the winter time and having purchased fortv 
acres of land in Isabella township the above year, devoted the summer months 
to clearing nnd improving the same. 

Mr. House began operations upon quite a modest scale, but in a few 
years, not only succeeded in reducing nearly all of his fortv acres to cultivation, 
but bought other land in the vicinity from time to time until his realtv amount- 
ed to one hundred and sixty acres, all partially wooded when he made the 
different purchases. When he bought his first forty acres, he was obliged 
to cut a way through the dense woods in order to reach it, the only semblance 
on the land of a road being a faintly defined trail over which Indians had 



480 ISABELLA COrXTV. MICHIGAN. 

formerly been accustomed to travel. Slight improvements had been 
made on the several other tracts, but on taking possession he pushed the work 
of clearing and improving until his fann was finally among the best and most 
valuable in the township, a reputation which it still sustains. 

In the year 1900 Mr. House added greatly to the appearance of his farm 
by erecting a fine barn, forty by fifty feet in size, which has since been re- 
modeled. His dwelling, which was built at an earlier date, though small, is 
comfortable. At the present time he has one hundred and twenty-six acres 
in cultivation and well drained, and raises all of the grains, vegetables, 
fruits, etc., grown in this part of the state, also an abundance of hay, which is 
one of his most valuable crops. He has four hundred rods of fine wire 
fencing on the place, which, with other improvements, adds much to the 
appearance of the fann which to the owner and his family is a home in 
which they take a pardonable pride and which to them is the happiest and 
most desirable place the world affords. 

Margaret Marlin, who became the wife of the subject on January 2~. 
1892, was born in Hastings county. Ontario, on the 6th day of October, 
1862. Her father. James Marlin. a native of Canada, was born June 22, 
1832, and lives in Isabella county at the present time. Her mother, who 
previous to her marriage bore the name of Margaret Brandon, was born Febru- 
ary 2}^. 1S40, and departed this life in Isabella county in 1901, both having 
resided for a period of thirty years in that part of the county. Mr. and ]Mrs. 
House have four children, namely: Albert J., born December 30, 1892; Ella 
B.. September 30, 1894; Edwin A.. November 12. 1904. and Emma P.. 
whose birth occurred on iMarch 28, 1907. Religiously the subject and wife 
are devoted members of the Baptist church, he having filled different offices in 
connection with the church and Sunday school. Politically he is a Republi- 
can, though by no means an active politician. 



GEORGE \V. COLE. 



Conspicuous among the successful self-made men of Isabella county is 
George \V. Cole, a leading farmer and stock raiser of Lincoln township and 
a public-spirited citizen whom to know is to esteem and honor. He was 
bom October 2. 1842. in St. Lawrence county, Xew York, and is a son of 
Benjamin and Eunice (Calkins) Cole, both natives of that state; the father 
was bom in 1809 and died in the month of June. 1876, and the mother was 
bom in 181 6 and died in her eighty-second year, in 1897. 

When the subject was quite young his parents moved to Ohio where 



ISABILLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 481 

they spent tlie four years ensiiins:;-, at tlie expiration of \vliicli time they changed 
tlieir residence to Allen county. Indiana, where they made tlieir home until 
their rcnin\al. twch'e _\-cars later. In ls;ii)cll.i county. Michigan, settling in 
Lincoln township in the winter of 1864-5. Grown to maturity the mean- 
while, the suhject was a strong, active young man, well calculated for the 
duty of clearing a farm and establishing a home in what was then a com- 
parati\cly new and undeveloped country, lie purchased, in iS()5. the eighty- 
acre tract in section 10 which had been ])reviously hnmesteaded by James 
Hoover, of Ionia, but two acres being cleared when he took possession and 
little if any other improvement attempted, .\nimated l)y a laudable ambition 
to succeed. Mr. C'dIc at once addressed himself to the fnrnu'dable task of re- 
moving the den.se forest growth and fitting the soil for cultivation, and in 
view of his present beautiful farm, with its fine buildings and other evi- 
dences of prosperity, it is needless to state that he succeeded in his undertak- 
ing and in due time forged to the front among the leading agriculturists and 
representative citizens of tlie community. 

Mr. Cole has been enterprising in all the term implies and successful 
both as a tiller of the soil and breeder of fine li\'e stock, making a specialty 
of Pcrcheron horses, for which there is a great demand by the farmers of Ins 
own and other localities. His impro\ements rank among the best in the 
countv, the commodious barn thirtv-six by si.xty-si.x feet in size, with cement 
basement, and his modern residence, being fine buildings and well adapted 
to the purposes for which ir:tended. While first of all a farmer and making 
everything else subordinate to his calling. Mr. Cole has alwa_\-s found time to 
devote to the public and to discharge the duties and responsibilities which 
every good citizen owes the community in wbicii he lives. He has fille'l 
various local offices, serving one year as township clerk and three years 
respectively as highway and drainage commissioner, proving in these respon- 
sible positions true to the interests of the people and discharging his duties 
with credit to himself and to the .satisfaction of all concerned. In his political 
allegiance he is a pronounced Republican and as such has been an infiuential 
factor in the affairs of his party ever since Ijecoming a citizen of the countv. 
although his zeal has never been in the way of ofifice seeking nor aspiring to 
leadership. 

Tn the summer of 1866 Mr. Cole went back to Ohio, where, on .\ugust 
1 2th of that year, he was married to Rebecca J. Waters, whose birth occurred in 
1849. she being a daughter of Samuel and Margaret (Byrle) Waters, natives 
of Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively. Immediately after his marriage he 
returned to Isabella countv w ith his bride ;md setting up their domestic estab- 



482 ISABELLA COUXTY, MICHIGAN. 

lisliment on tlie farm in Lincoln township, they entered upon the mutually 
happy and prosperous life which has made them popular in the community 
and which their friends trust may be continued many years in which to bless 
the world by their presence and influence. 

The children of Mr. and ]\Irs. Cole are as follows : Alzada, born July 3, 
1867. is the wife of Aimer Servose, of Coe township ; Warner S., born Decem- 
ber 13, i86g. married Cora Bellinger, and lives on a farm in Union township: 
IMuzetta ^I., now Mrs. Chase Hann. was born July 23, 1872. and resides in 
Lincoln township: Vernon D., lx)rn February 12, 1875. married Anna Camp- 
bell and departed this life in the state of Washington July 17, 1908: Joseph 
\\'.. whose birth occurred on September 15. 1879, married Ethel De Kron 
and lives in the township of Lincoln: Elmer ^I., the youngest of the family, 
was born April 23, 1883 : he is a farmer of Denver township, also a married 
man. his wife having formerly been Blanch Collier. 

Mr. Cole is a finn believer in revealed religion and his study of the 
sacred scriptures leading him to accept the doctrine of the second advent of 
Christ, he is now an influential member of that church and a pillar of the 
local congregation to which himself and wife and several of his children 
belong. 



XICEIOLAS LAUBEXTH.\L. 

As indicated by the name, the subject of this sketch is of foreign birth, 
being one of the sturdy citizens who came to this country from Germany and, 
like so many of his compatriots from the fatherland, he inherits the sterling 
qualities which distinguish his nationality. Nicholas Laubenthal, farmer, of 
Nottawa township and an ex-soldier in one of the greatest ci\il wars in the 
annals of time, was born in Prussia in the year 184 1. When ele\en vears 
old he came to America with his parents and during the ensuing ten years 
lived in Lorraine county. Ohio, where he grew up on a farm and received a 
common school education. At the breaking out of the great rebellion he was 
among the first young men of the above county to tender his services to the 
government, enlisting, at the age of twenty-one, in Company G. One Hun- 
dred Seventh Ohio Infantrv\ with which he served for a period of three 
years and fqur months, during which time he took part in a number of cam- 
paigns in Virginia. Maryland and elsewhere and participated in some of the 
most noted battles of the war. His regiment was with the Army of the 
Potomac and he shared with his comrades the vicissitudes of warfare in 



ISABI'LLA COUNTYj MICHIGAN. 483 

many tlirilliiig and dangenms experiences. In the battle of Gettysburg he 
was wounded by a niu.sket l>all in the right arm and right hand, whicli 
necessitated his lieing taken to a hospital in Baltimore, where he remained but 
two days, going thence to a riiiladelphia iiospital, in which he recei\ed treat- 
ment for aliout ti\e weeks. 

iM-om the latter city Mr. Laubenthal was transferred to a hospital at 
Cincinnati, thence to Covington. Kentucky, and two weeks later was re- 
moved witii a number of otl^ers to Camp Dennison. Ohio, wliere he remained 
ncari\- one \ear in the in\alid corps. During tlie greater part of that time he 
received treatment, but when his wound improved, he was made master of 
one of the hospital wards. At the expiration of the period indicated lie 
with thirty others of liis own company, was removed to a hospital in the 
city of Cleveland, where he remained on duty for ten montlis and tlicn re- 
turned to Camp Deiuiison, wiiere, three weeks later, he received his discharge. 
His military career was an active and eminently honorable one, and he left 
the ser\ice with a record of which any soldier might well feel proud. While 
at tile front, he was always ready for duly, nexer shirked a responsibilil}- and 
whetlicr on the marcli, in camp, or amid the din and confusion of battle his 
conduct was ever above reproach and right nobly did he sustain the reputation 
of a brave and gallant soldier. 

For sonic time after the war Mr. Laubenthal was employed by a gentle- 
man in Lorain cc^unty. Ohio, to o\-crsee the latter's farm and nurser}-, in con- 
nection with which he subsequently took charge of a general store also. Still 
later a saw and shingle machine were added, and for several months he looked 
after and managed these several lines of enterprise and that, too, in a manner 
entirely satisfactory to the proprietor. He remained in Ohio for a number 
of years, devoting his attention principally to agricultural pursuits, but in 
1899 he disposed of his interests in that state and came to Isabella county, 
Michigan, settling in May of that year in the woods of Xottawa township 
and liegan operating a saw mill. He also purchased a tract of land in that 
township, from which he cut the timber, and which he later cleared and ini- 
pro\cfl. making a good farm, on which he siill resides. 

Mr. Laubenthal has been a very industrious man and has alwavs made 
his labors count, as his present fine farm of one hundred and si.xty acres with 
its up-to-date improxements aljundantly attest. He erected all of his buildings, 
principally by his own labor, enclosed his farm with first-class fences and In- 
artificial drainage has increased the productiveness of the soil in no snvill 
de.gree. He is an excellent farmer, in that he has made a careful study of 
soils and their adaptation to the different kinds of crops and by judicious 



484 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

rotation and tlie use of modern methods of cultivation, he seldom, if ever, 
fails to realize ample returns for his time and lalxjr. In politics he is an in- 
dependent, refusing to be bound by any strictly party ties, and in religion is 
a Roman Catholic, belonging with his family to the local church at Beal City. 
He served as three years as supervisor of his township, ten years as school 
director, and at the present time holds the ofifice of school treasurer, in all 
of which positions he discharged his duty with credit to himself and to the 
satisfaction of the public. 

In the year 1867 Mr. Laubenthal and Mary Cotton were united in the 
holy bonds of wedlock, the latter being a native of Lorain county, Ohio, 
where she was born XovemJjer 18. 1850, being a daughter of George W. and 
Eliza Cotton. The children that ha\-e blessed this union are as follows : 
Anna C, wife of Stephen Schon, of Ohio; Joseph G., who married Emma 
Simmer and lives in Nottawa township; Elizabeth M., now Mrs. Mat Diet- 
rich, li\es in Henry county, Ohio; Emma T. li\'es in Nottawa township and 
is the wife of Joseph Zimmer; Frank J. married Christine Pung and lives in 
Cadillac, this state; William J., of Xottawa township, married Helena Dolli ; 
Myra J., wife of James Mead, resides in the township of Nottawa; Clara J., 
who married Albert Giesige. lives in Henry county, Ohio; Elnora, of Henry 
county, that state, married to Walter W^estrick, of Henry county, Ohio; 
Mary L., unmarried, is still with her parents. 



JOHN G. HOUSE. 

John G. House, the oldest son of George and Elizabeth (Chancellor) 
House, and a representative farmer and stock raiser of Isabella township, 
was born in England on May 15, 1859, and in 1869, when ten years old, ac- 
companied his parents to .America, spending the ensuing six years in the 
dominion of Canada. Removing with the family to Michigan at the expira- 
tion of that period, he lived with his parents in Monroe county until 1879, 
when he accompanied them to Isabella county and assisted in clearing and im- 
proving the farm in Isabella townshi]), where they still li\e, in the meantime, 
as opportunity afforded, attending sch.ool at his se\'eral ])!aces of residence. 
Reared in the country and early inured to the practical tluties of the farm, 
he grew up strong, vigorous and well calculated for the \-ocation of agricul- 
ture, which he chose for his life work, and on attaining his majority he 
began cultivating soil for himself on the family humestead. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 485 

In 1885. Mr. House was iinitcil in the hoiuls of wedlock with Charlotte 
.\nnstroiig. whose hirth occurred in I'ccl cnuuty. Ontario, in I'\'l)niary, 
i860, and who came to Michifjan with her parents, John and Mary (Baker) 
Armstrong;, natives of Ireland and Canada, respectively. The former, born 
in 1810, died in 1876; the latter, born in 1822. departed this life in the year 
1905, the family lieing among the early pioneers of \'ernon tow nship. Shortly 
after his marriage Mr. House moved to forty acres of land in section 3 of 
the above township and five years later increased his holdings by an additional 
forty acres adjoining the original purchase. lx)th of which he improved and 
brought to a high state of cultixation. Still later he bought twent\' acres 
more, making the farm of one hundred acres, its present area, in the mean- 
time commencing and carrying to completion many additional impro\ements, 
thus increasing the value of his lantl and adding greatly to its attractiveness 
as one of the desirable places of residence in a part of the county long noted 
for its beautiful homes. His dwelling, a fine two-story brick edifice, sul> 
stantially constructed and of imjxjsiug appearance, is furnished with the 
usual modern conveniences, and the barn, erected in 1903. compares favorably 
with the best structures of the kind in the locality, its dimensions being forty- 
four by sixty feet, with a large stone basement and every feature of the 
building bearing evidence of first-class workmanshi]). He has also recently 
bought eight yacres of good land at Stevenson Lake, \'ernon townshi]). which 
he proposes to devote to pasturage. 

In all that constitutes a modern farmer of progressive ideas, Mr. House 
is the peer of the most enterprising of his fellow agriculturists of Isabella 
countv. lie devotes careful attention to the soil ; the maximum ])roductiveness 
he aims to retain by artificial drainage and the judicious rotation of crops, and 
in comiection with general farming he markets every year considerable live 
stock, being a successful bree<ler and raiser of fine shorthorn cattle, lilooded 
Leicestershire sheep and high grade Berkshire hogs, all of which command 
high prices and yield him ample financial returns. He also operates a small 
dairy which, like his other interests, is ([uite remunerative and it is not too 
much to state that everything to which he turns his hands appears to prosper 
and that too in no small degree. 

Mr. House inherits many of the sterling (pialities of his sturdy English 
ancestry and is a gentleman of high character, inflexible integrity, and in his 
relations with his fellow men has ever been characterized by honest and 
conscientious motives. He is spirited in his efforts to promote the material 
]>rosperitv of the community in which he resides, takes an active ])art in all 
that makes for the social and moral good of his fellow men and keeps in 



486 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

touch with the times on pohtical matters, being a RepubHcan in his views, 
but in matters local voting for the man rather than the party. 

The domestic life of Mr. and Mrs. House has been gladdened by six 
children, whose names and dates of birth are as follows: Mary, October 5, 
1887; Chancellor, August 21, 1889: Flossie Mae, April 7, 1893; Grace I., 
December 23, 1895; Emily F., April 4, 1898, and Esther C, who was born 
on March 6, 1901, all living and memliers of the home circle. 



GEORGE H. ALLEN. 



The gentleman whose name introduces this sketch is a prosperous busi- 
ness man and public-spirited citizen who for a number of years has been 
identified with the development and growth of Isabella county, especially with 
the township now honored by his citizenship. George H. Allen, a native of 
Clinton county, Michigan, was born in the year 1855 being a son of Philip P. 
and Mary A. Allen. His father, whose birth occurred April 21, 1829, mar- 
ried, when a young man, Mary A. Sawtelle, who was born Jul}' 2. 1830. 
both parents being natives of New York. In March, 1854, they moved to 
Maple Rapids, Michigan, where Mrs. Allen died on January 10, 1865, .some 
time after which, though in the same year, Mr. Allen went to Gratiot county, 
where he remained diu'ing the starvation period in that and other parts of the 
state. About the year 1884 he became a resident of Isabella county, where 
he spent the remainder of his life, dying on the 15th day of December, 
1908, lamented by all who knew him. 

In many respects Philip P. Allen was more than an ordinary man. He 
early became prominent as a politician and while living in Gratiot county 
took a leading part in establishing the public school system and arousing an 
interest in the cause of popular education among the people. On coming to 
this county he also took a deep interest in educational matters, besides becom- 
ing an influential factor in local politics and a leader in the Methodist Episco- 
pal church, of which he was a member until a short time before his death, 
when he united with the Seventh-day Adventists. In all of his dealings 
he was the soul of honor and his memory will long be cherished as one of the 
leading citizens of his day in the several communities where he resided. 

When an infant, George H. Allen was taken to Gratiot count\- by his 
parents and there grew to manhood and received his education. At the age 
of twentv-one vears he went to Muskegon and, after working seven vears in 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MrCHIGAX. 487 

tlie mills (if that city, came to Isabella county, and in ijartnership with his 
brother bought forty acres of land in Coldwater township. He worked for 
some time cutting wood in this township and lumbering, and later, in July, 
i8y6, started a general store at the village of Brinton, of which he is still 
proprietor. In his mercantile business he has been quite successful, having a 
large and well-stocked establishment and commanding a patronage which 
from the beginning has grown steadily in magnitude until he is now one of 
the leading merchants of the county with encouraging prospects of still 
greater success in the future. Mr. Allen votes with the Democratic party 
and, like his father l:)efore him, manifests a lively interest in public and politi- 
cal matters and keeps abreast of the times on the leading questions and issues 
before the people. He ser\ed three terms as treasurer of his township, one 
term as superintendent and during the second administration of President 
Cleveland was postmaster at Brinton, holding the position four years and 
proving a very capable and popular official. He has always been greatly 
interested in the cause of education, in recognition of which he was elected 
school director, which position he held, with credit to himself and to the 
satisfaction of all concerned, for a period of nine years. For a number of 
years he has Ijeen (|uite active in Odd Fellowship, having passed all the chairs 
in the local lodge with which he holds membership, besides representing the 
organization four times as a delegate to the grand lodge. lie is also identified 
with the Order of Gleaners, in which he has been lionored with official trusts 
from time to time and lends his influence and assistance to all other enter- 
prises for the social and moral advancement of his fellow men. As already in- 
dicated, he has met with encouraging financial success, owning, in addition 
to his store, a nuiuber of lots in Brinton and other property elsewhere and is 
today one of the suijstantial, well-to-do men of the \illage and township. 



SYLVESTER C. HAMMOND. 

The subject of this review was born in Clinton county. Michigan. 
December 7, 1854, and is a .son of Carmi and Mary Ann (Willitt) Ham- 
mond, natives of \^ermont and New York, resi)ectively. Carmi Hammond, 
whose birth occurred in the year 1807, grew to manhood among the Green 
mountains of the Granite state and later came to Michigan, where he spent 
the residue of his life, dying in the year 1883. Mrs. Hammond was horn in 
1814, passed her early life in her native state, and died in Michigan in 1876. 



48S ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Sylvester C. Hammond grew up on the home farm in Essex township, Clinton 
countv, attended at intervals during his minority the district schools and at 
the age of twenty came to Isabella county and settled in Coldwater township 
on eight acres of land. In his youth and early manhood Sylvester Ham- 
mond learned carpentry and after moving to this county he worked at the 
trade in connection with clearing his land and cultivating the soil. For some 
years there was great demand for his services as a builder and a number of 
dwellings, barns and other edifices in his own and other townships still bear 
witness to his mechanical skill. 

Mr. Hammond's farm, which was originally homesteaded by his father- 
in-law, M. M. Ryerson, from whom he bought it, lies in one of the finest 
agricultural districts of Coldwater township, and the eighty acres which he 
has reduced to cultivation produces abundant crops of grain, hay, fruits and 
vegetables, such as are grov.n in this part of the state. The place is enclosed 
and subdivided with good Viire fencing, the buildings are modern and in ex- 
cellent repair, the barn, thirty-two by forty-foiu' feet in size, with stone 
basement, erected in 1909, being one of the best structures of the kind in the 
township. Mr. Hammond takes great interest in agriculture and his pride 
in his home indicates his contentment with his lot. Everv'thing on the farm 
bears evidence of prosperity and it is not too much to claim for him distincti\-e 
prestige among the leading agriculturists of the county as well as a worthy 
place among the representative citizens of the community in which he lives. 
He has been honored from time to time with various local offices, including 
those of township supervisor in which he served eight years, township treas- 
urer two terms and one term as township clerk, in all of which he performed 
his duties faithfully and well and proved a most capable and painstaking 
puljlic servant. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and 
has filled all the chairs of the lodge which holds his meml^ership, his wife being 
a member of the Rebekah degree and, like himself, active and influential in dis- 
seminating the principles of the order. 

Mr. Hammond was happily married on March 5. 1876, to Jennie Ryerson, 
who was born October 11, 1859, being a daughter of M. M. Ryerson, the 
original owner of the home where she and her husband live. The following 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hammond : Orton C. died February 
26, 1898, aged twenty-one years: Orville, who married Lelia Kilburn and 
lives in Berrien county, this state, where he is general manager of a large 
lumber company ; Mary Bell married Ed. Gorden and lives in Coldwater 
township, her husband being a farmer by occupation ; Lena, now the wife of 
Ben Gordon, lives in California; Lillie, who married Wade Suylandt, lives 



ISABELLA COUXTV, MICHIGAN. 489 

in tlie city of Saginaw; Martin died in Septemljcr. 1884, aged five niuntlis ; 
Bessie is the wife of Ed. Teall, a farmer of Coldwater townsliip; Earl, wiiose 
wife was formerly Edna Wiley, lives with his father and helps run the home 
farm, and Maude, the youngest of the family, departed this life Decemher 
26, 1907. aged nineteen years. Mr. Ilammond and family liave always com- 
manded the respect and confidence of the community and wherever known 
the name is above reproach. Interested in the development and prosperity of 
his township and county and standing for upright manhood and citizenship, 
he has wielded a wholesome inlluence for morality among his neighbors and 
friends and those who enjoy his accpiaintance speak of him as an intelligent, 
broad-minded American who makes duty paramount to every other considera- 
tion and frequently loses sight of self in his efforts to promote the interests 
of his fellow men. 



GEORGE HOUSE. 



The prosperous farmer and enterprising citizen whose career is briefly 
sketched in the following lines is a native of Somersetshire county, England, 
and a son of William and Sarah House, the father, a baker by trade, dying 
when the subject w-as quite young, the mother surviving him until 1864. 

George House was born December 11, 1828, and at the proper age 
entered the schools of his native place and in due time acquired a liberal 
education. In his sixteenth year he entered a mercantile house at Walton, 
Somersetshire county, where he remained for a period of eight years, during 
which time he developed fine business capacity and met with gratifying suc- 
cess as a salesman. On May 6, 1852, he married Sarah Adeline Petvin, who 
was iiorn in the above county .\pril 15. 18.31. Mr. House's first marriage 
was bles.sed with two children, the older of whom, Joseph William, was born 
in England on the 8th of March, 1853, and lives in Isabella township, being 
married and engaged in agricultural pursuits ; Alfred George, also a native of 
England, was born Januarv 11, 1855. He married Miss Yager, and is one 
of the enterprising farmers and esteemed citizens of the above township. 

Mr. House's wife dying October 3, 1857, he subsetiuently chose a second 
companion and helpmeet in the person of Elizabeth Chancellor, to whom he 
was iniitcd in marriage on the (ith day of May. 1858. and with whom and 
with his entire family, consisting of eight children, decided that he could do 
better in the \ew World where land was cheaper and expenses not so high. 
He disposed of his interests in 1869. and in the spring of that year emigrated 



490 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

to Canada. During the ensuing year lie li\-ed in the county of \^'elHngton, but 
removed at the expiration of that time to York county, where lie resumed the 
pursuit of agricuhure and met with encouraging success as a tiller of the soil. 

After a residence of five years in the latter county, Mr. House moved to 
Monroe county, Michigan, where he purchased two hundred and sixty-fiv^e 
acres of land, on which he li\-ed until 1879, when he sold out and came to 
Isabella county, investing in one hundred and sixty acres in section 4, Isabella 
township, all thickly timbered and as nature had created it. 

Mr. House at once addressed himself to the formidable task of improv- 
ing his land and in the course of a few years had a goodly number of acres 
in cultivation and a very comfortable home established. By energetic and 
continuous toil he finally succeeded in reducing all but ten acres of his land 
to successful tillage and found himself the possessor of one of the finest and 
most desiralile farms of the township, his impro\ements of all kinds being 
first class and bearing evidence of the care with which he cultivates his fields 
and the good judgment displayed in the management of his business aft'airs 
In 191 o he remodeled his barn, ]nitting in an excellent stone and cement 
basement, and now has a commodious structure, in size forty-two bv seventy- 
eight feet, and admirably adapted to the ends for which intended, while the 
present fine brick dwelling, equipped with all modern conveniences, was built 
in 1903, and is considered one of the best edifices of the kind in the locality, 
being substantially constructed, neat and tast}- in point of architecture and 
answering all the purposes of a comfortable home. 

Mr. House has met with success commensurate with his energy and 
labor and now, as the e\ening of life comes on apace, finds himself the pos- 
sessor of a competency ample for the needs of himself and those dependent 
upon him and sufficient to insure a comfortable old age. He is greatly es- 
teemed by his neighbors and fellow citizens, commands the respect and con- 
fidence of all with whom he comes in contact and his life has been such that 
he now looks back over the past and perceives little that he could wish 
changed. He is a Republican in politics, a Baptist in religion, as are also his 
wife and children, all being active church workers, and deeply interested in 
the propagation of the Gospel both at home and in lands which have not yet 
received its light. 

The subject's present wife was born January 29, 1836, in the same 
village where he was reared, being a daughter of William and Mary Chancel- 
lor, both natives of England, in the soil of which their bodies now rest. Ten 
children have resulted from the second marriage, namely: Alexander J. G., 
of Isabella township, born May 15, 1859. in England, married ]\Iiss Arm- 



ISABEU-A COUNTY, MKHIC.AN. 49I 

Strong, ami by occupation is a tiller of the soil; Mrs. Sarah J. Wallace, also 
of English birth, first saw the light of day on December 28. i860, and lives 
in the to\vnslii|) of Isabella, where her hnsband is engaged in agriculture; 
James ("r.. born in England August 12. 1862. married Edna Wilder and li\es 
in Union township; Henry Cieorge. whose birth occiUMX'd in the old country 
on the 8th day of June. 1864, married Mary i'dlcn jasmin, of Isabella town- 
ship; Eerdinand G., also a resident of the alxive township, was born in Eng- 
land May 6, 1866. and is a married man. his wife ha\ing formerly been 
Hem'ietta Munia. of this county; Mary C. the last of the children born in 
England, dates her birth from Eebruary 29. 1868. and is now the wife of 
George Savage, of Isabella townshij); Eustace C. was l>nru June (), iSfx). in 
Canada, married Edith Maybe, of Isabella county, and is one of Isaljella 
townshii>'s enterprising farmers; Elizabeth M.. whose l)irth occurred in Cana- 
da Eebrunrv 7. 1872, is the wife of William Teeter, of Isabella count\'; Emily 
A., now Mrs. Emily A. Archer, and a resident of the above township, was 
liorn in Canada April 7. 1874; George, the youngest of the family, was born 
in Monroe county. Michigan. Jidy 6. 1876; he married Rose Sophia Schug 
and li\cs 1 in the hnuie farm. 



EMMET A. MURPHY. 

l-jumet A. Miu-phy. dealer in ])roduce and member of the tirm of Mur]jhy 
& Muhey. Shepherd, is a native of Washtenaw county, Michigan, where his 
birth occurred on May jj. 1861. lie was reared to agricultural ])nrsuits in 
Dexter township. n{ the aljove county, and grew up with the conxiction that 
man should earn his bread by the sweat of his face and that willful idleness 
is not far remoxcd from crime. On arriving at an age when voung men are 
presumed to lay plans for their future, he engaged in the livery business at 
Pinckney. Livingston county, this state, and after spending two years in that 
town disposed of his interests and came to Shepherd, where he again em- 
barked in the li\erv Ijusiness, though ujion a much larger scale than formerlv. 
Purchasing a commodious bfrn, which he enlarged and greatly improved, and 
keeping from six to eight excellent roadsters and the best type of modern 
vehicles, he was soon in the enjoyment of a lucrative |)atronage and from the 
beginning the business prospered and fully realize<l his highest ex[)ectations. 
as was indicated by the constant demantl for acctimmodations by the traveling 
public as well as by pleasure seekers of the town and vicinity. 



492 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Mr. Murphv continued the livery business for a period of sixteen years, 
during which time his estabhshment became one of the best known and most 
popular of the kind in the county, and he never suffered from a lack of 
patronage nor failed to command the esteem and confidence of the public. 
At the expiration of the time indicated, he sold his livery barn and stock and 
shortly thereafter effected a copartnership with Lewis H. Mulvey in the 
produce business, which the firm thus constituted still carries on, the enterprise, 
under their joint management, having grown rapidly in volume and import- 
ance until their establishment at Shepherd is among tlie largest and most suc- 
cessful of the kind in the county, the patronage taking a wide range and earn- 
ing for the proprietors much more than local repute in commercial circles. 

Mr. Murphy is careful and methodical in all of his undertakings, judi- 
cious as a business man and eminently honorable in his dealings. By fair and 
considerate treatment he has gained a large number of well-paying customers 
and, being familiar with every detail of the trade, his efforts have redounded 
greatly to his success and he is now on the high road to fortune and financial 
independence. He not only commands the respect of the public in the line 
of his calling, but socially stands high in popular favor, being a gentleman of 
pleasing personality, agreeable in his manners and a favorite in the social cir- 
cle in which he moves. 

Mr. Murphy served six years as alderman of Shepherd, during which 
time he took a leading part in the deliberations of the town board and was 
instrumental in bringing about much important municipal legislation. He is 
an unswerving supporter of the Democratic party and as a politician he has 
made his influence felt in a number of campaigns, both local and general, being 
a judicious adviser in party councils, an untiring worker in the ranks and his 
acti\'itv in conventions has had much to do in making platforms and formu- 
lating policies. His fraternal relations are represented by the Royal Guards 
in the local lodge of which at Shepherd he has been a leading spirit, and in 
matters religious the Catholic church holds his creed. Mr. Murphy was born 
and reared under the influence of the mother church and has always been 
true to the same, being one of its loyal and dutiful sons, ready at all times to 
lose sight of self in his efforts to promote its advancement, and no reasonable 
sacrifice is too great for him to make if thereby he can arouse an interest in 
sacred things among his fellow men. 1"he church at Shepherd, with which 
he is now identified, was organized in 1908 mainly through his labors and 
influence and since then he has been untiring in his efforts to make the enter- 
prise a success, which laudable endeavor has already been crowned with 
splendid and abundant results. Shortly after the organization became a cer- 



ISABELLA COUNTY. M ICIl IC.AN. 493 

taintx- he inaugurated a iiKnement for a house of worshi]) ami not lieins;; ahle 
to huild one to their liking, tlic parisli. under liis leadershi]). purchased tlie 
editice formerly used by the Baptists, which in due time was moved to its 
present site on lots procured for the purpose and, being remodeled and beauti- 
fied, it now answers well the object of a temple in wliich the pious Catholics 
of the town and vicinity can meet and worship the Most High- The parish 
at this time numliers something in excess of thirtv-ti\e families, public ser- 
\-ices being conducted regularly by priests sent here from other places. Mr. 
Mm-iiby deserves great credit for his earnest efforts and unselfish devotion to 
the church of his fathers and the parishioners rei)ose im])licit confidence in his 
abilit\' to direct and control the various interests of the organization. 

Mr. Murphy and Miss Xellie b'anning were united in the holy Ixmds nf 
matriniduy according to the rite of the church winch both love, the union 
being blessed with five children, namely: Cecil T.. Mildred, Joseph. -\I])hinsus 
and Mary J., all living and at home cxce|)t Cecil, w ho died at the early age of 
thirteen years. 



ALFRED P.. WAkWICK. 

.\lfred Pi. \\ arwick. proprietor of the oldest ruid most extensive harness 
business in Isabella county and for some years one of the leading citizens of 
Mt. rieasant. is a native of McComb county, Michigan, where he was born 
in the year 1855. He spent his early life and received his educational training 
near the place of his birth and remained in his nati\e cnniit\' until icSSo, when 
he went to the county of Lapeer. .Mthougli reared (Jii a farm, he did not 
take kintlly to agriculture, accordingly when a young man he learned the har- 
ness trade and worked at the same for some time in his own county and from 
1880 to 1883, inclusive, was in the employ of Stock & I'olton. at Imlay City 
in the county of Lapeer. Tn the latter year he went \\ est, where lie remained 
until 1885, when he returned to Dr\den and started in business for himself, 
beginning with a capital of one hundreil and sixty-five dollars and closing out 
ten years later with twenty-two hundred dollars in his possession. 

In 1895 Mr. Warwick came to Mt. Pleasant and purchased the harness 
shop formerly operated liv Tom Barber, of which be has since licen ])i"oprietor. 
In tlie meantime he has greatly enlarged the establishmenl td meet the de- 
mands of the trade and now has a very extensive and lucrative business, the 
largest antl most successful of the kind not only in the county, but in the cen- 
tral part of the state. In addition to manufacturing all kinds of harness for 



494 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

tlie general trade, his stock also includes wiiips, brushes, trunks, suit cases, 
etc., in fact, nearly everything in the way of leather goods and hardware such 
as the business demands. As already stated, his establishment on Broadway 
is one of the best known places in the city, the business averaging considerably 
in excess of eight thousand dollars per year and growing steadily in magnitude 
and importance. Mr. Warvvick is an accomplished workman, a master of his 
vocation, and he also possesses business aljility of a high order, as his rapid 
advancement and gratifying success abundantly indicate. In addition to his 
shop and other city real estate, he owns twenty acres of fine land two miles 
east of the town, on which he has made a number of improvements. The shop 
which he now occupies was erected in 1901 and is admirably adapted to the 
purposes for which designed, being twenty-two Ijy ninety feet in dimensions, 
two stories high with a large basement and equipped throughout with im- 
provements calculated to facilitate every department of the business. 

Mr. Warwick is a Democrat and a wheel horse of his party in Isabella 
county. He was twice nominated for office in the county of Lapeer and se- 
cured more votes than any other Democratic candidate on the ticket lioth 
times he ran, but the party being in the nfinority, he suffered defeat with the 
rest of the ticket. Before moving to J\lt. Pleasant he served two years on the 
village board of Dryden, several years as township clerk and for some time as 
treasurer of his township, in all of which offices he acquitted himself with 
credit and to the satisfaction of the public. He was married in Lapeer county 
in the year 1887 to Editha Anderson, of Almont. Michigan, the uifion being 
without issue. 



SOLOMON G. LEONARD. 

This old and highly esteemed resident of Coe township dates his citizen- 
ship in Michigan from 1865. He was born in Greene county. Pennsylvania, 
February 5, 1834, being a son of Rew \\'illiam and Sarah (Guthrie) Leonard, 
both natives of the Keystone state, where their births occurred in 181 2 and 
181 5, respectively. These parents were married in Pennsylvania and re- 
mained there until 1865, when Mr. Leonard moved to Michigan for the pur- 
pose of securing land for his children, his family at the time being quite large 
and land in his native state commanding a higher price than he could well pav. 
After looking over the countiy for a favorable location, he finally purchased 
four hundred and eighty acres, a part of which was cleared, the rest being 
as nature had created it. In due season the land was di\'ided among his chil- 



ISABTLLA COINTV, MICHIGAN. 495 

(Iren. affording each a lioinc. ami lie also gave some attention to agricultiual 
pur.suits. altliougli devoting the greater part of his time to preaching the 
Gospel. 

William Leonard was a minister of the Disciple clunch and preached for 
a numher of years throughout Isabella and other counties of central Michigan, 
traveling over a large area ni country in the pursuit of his holy calling and 
planting congregations in a number of places. He was a man of noble ])ur- 
poses and high ideals, as well as an able and popular preacher, and his labors 
jiroved very effective in checking many of the picvalent evils of tiic times. 
.After a busy and useful life, devoted to the welfare of his fellow men, he was 
called to his reward in 1876, his wife dying twenty-two years later, in 1898. 
The fannly of William and Sarah Leonard consisted of the following chil- 
dren: Solomon G., of this review: Elizabeth: Archibald: Martha, widow of 
A. Fordyce : John and William .\.. only two of whom. Mrs. Fordyce and the 
subject of this sketch, survive. 

Solomon (i. Leonard grew t" niaturit\- in his native state and was 
reared to agricultural pursuits. In connection with tilling the soil, he also 
learned carpentry, which trade he followed for some time in Pennsylvania 
and after coming to Michigan in 1865 his skill as a builder was in great de- 
mand throughout various parts of Isabella count}'. He helped clear and im- 
prove the farm in Coe township on which his father lived and later devoted 
his time to his trade until engaging in merchandising at Coe postoffice. where 
he has been selling goods for a period of eighteen years and doing a profitable 
business. 

Mr. Leonard has been quite active in the affairs of his township and at 
intervals has filled various local offices, one of which, that of justice of the 
l)eace. he served for a period of thirty-two years and still holds the same, 
besides being a member of the township board and for eighteen \cars a notarv 
public. In religious matters he has long been quite active and i)rominent. the 
Bible alone representing his creed and the Disciple church holding his mem- 
bershi]). For a number of years he has been a leader of the local congrega- 
tion at Pleasant Ridge which his father reorganized soon after moving to 
this county and from time to time has served the society as elder, deacon 
and clerk. Ijesides looking after the interest of the Sunday school and doing 
much to promote the welfare of neighboring churches. At one lime he was 
an Odd Fellow and helped organize lodges at St. Louis and Shepherd, in the 
latter of which he pas.sed all the chairs, also .served as district grand master, 
but of recent years he has not been very regular in his attendance upon the 
meetings of the society to which he belongs. 



496 ISABELLA COrXTV, MICHIGAN. 

Mr. Leonard married, in Pennsylvania, Mary Wood, who was Ijorn in 
Greene county, that state, on the ist of March, 1837. She departed this hfe 
in the year 1896, after bearing her husband the following children: William, 
who li\es in Frankfort, Michigan; Horace, a resident of Coe township: 
Perry, who resides in Coe and who, like the preceding, is by occupation a 
farmer; Almond, who is engaged in the pursuit of agriculture, lives in Isabella 
county, as do also Thomas, David and Alice, now Mrs. Hart; John is a resi- 
dent of Gratiot county, this state, and Sara, the youngest of the famliy. who 
married a Mr. Norton, lives in Coe township; Adelia, the ninth in order of 
birth, is deceased. 



LEWIS D. COLE. 



A truly noble man but fulfills the plan' of the Creator. The life of man 
describes a circle; the cycles of existence of different lives form concentric 
circles, for some are given but a few decades in which to complete their ap- 
pointed work, while the span of others varies to the allotted three score and 
ten. But how true and comforting that life is measured, not by years alone, 
but rather by a purpose achieved, bv noljle deeds accredited to it. How often 
are we confronted when an esteemed friend and co-worker answers the final 
summons, with the question. "Why must he go when there yet remains so 
much for him to do, when he can so illy be spared?" But the grim messenger 
heeds not. and we are left to mourn aild accept submissively. Such thoughts 
arise when we contemplate the busy, useful and highly commendaljle career of 
the late Lewis D. Cole, of Mt. Pleasant, Isabella county, a contractor of state- 
wide reputation and a high-minded and prominent citizen, whose tragic and 
untimely death removed one of the most useful men of the community, and 
the many spontaneous and beautiful tributes to his high standing in industrial, 
social and civic circles as a man and citizen attest the abiding place he had in 
the hearts and affections of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. 

Mr. Cole was born on December 25, 1867, in Lincoln township, Isabella 
county. He was the scion of an excellent old family, being the son of W. W. 
and Katie Cole, the father born in the state of New York, of Yankee stock, 
and the mother was of Scotch and English descent. They grew to maturity 
in the East and were married in Indiana. They emigrated to Michigan and 
were among the very early settlers in Isabella county and they were prominent 
here in the early affairs of the community. They are now living on a very 
desirable and well improved farm at Crawford, Lincoln township, this county. 




LEWIS D. COLE 



ISABELLA COl'NTY, MICHIGAX. 497 

His boyhood was spent on tlic Imme taini uliich he worked chuing the summer 
months, attending the common schools in the wintertime. From the trade of 
mason, wliich lie learned early and which he followed many years, his native 
ability and skill carried him into the contracting business. He worked at his 
trade first !>>• the day. later i>y llie job, contracting joljs in all parts of the state, 
and as a contractor he stood second to none, his work always giving the utmost 
satisfaction. He has built large public buildings all over the state, notably 
at the Soo. Owosso and Mt. I'k-asant, erected many of the buildings at the 
Indian school, built the gymnasium, training school and heating plant, besides 
other buildings, and he repaired the normal school buildings, built the Carnegie 
Librarv at Soo, also the high school and an addition to the court house there, 
and built the high school at Owosso and also at Ovid, Michigan, besides many 
other important buildings at various points. His own modern, attractive and 
commodious residence on Xormal avenue, Mt. Pleasant, testifies to the high 
quality of his own mechanical skill, for a large part of it was built by himself. 
He left a large number of unfinished contracts in igio. among the most imjjor- 
tant of which were the Training School and the chicory plant at Ml. I'leasant, 
w hich were finished by his brother and son. 

When twenty-one years of age. Mr. Cole was married to .\lice M. .^tell. 
a lady ot' culture and the rei)resentative of an excellent old I'amily. being the 
daughter of Jacob and Sarah Stell. natives of Germany and pjigland, re- 
spectively. She was born in Hillsdale county, [Michigan, February 19, 1868, 
and when seven years of age she accompanied her parents to Shepherd and 
lived there until her marriage. Her father is deceased and the mother lives 
on the old homestead. Mr. and Mrs Cole were married on r^Iarch 2. 1889, 
and this union has been graced by the birth of these children ; Leo Ray, born 
Septeml)er 2, 1891, is living at home: Jesse L. was born April 26, 1894; Lyle 
S. was born February 28, 1896: Reuel Gerald was born August 7, 1909. 

.\fter their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Cole lived in Shepherd, where all the 
children but one were born. They moved to Mt. Pleasant in March. 1905, and 
Mr. Cole here built the beautiful home mentioned above. It has every modern 
convenience, is elegantly furnished and neatly kept and the lawn is a thing of 
beautv. .\fter coming to this city, Mr. Cole continued contracting, becoming 
one of the best known and most popular of the city's business men. His 
several years of residence here has indebted the community to him for his busi- 
ness enterprise and official worth when he served the second ward as alderman. 
Many large buildings stand as a monument to his honesty and skill as a con- 
tractor. In the prime of life the city lost one of its best citizens and ablest 
contractors and his loss was keenly felt in business and social circles. He 

(32) 



498 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

met death bj- accident while driving iiis automobile on July 25. 1910, on the 
road near Alma, Michigan, his lifeless body being found in the early morning 
beside his overturned and partly wrecked auto, which, it is believed, had be- 
come unmanageable and, in overturning, crushed out his life instantly. He 
had started to Croswell, where he had a new building under way. 

Mr. Cole was a very successful business man and had accumulated a very 
comfortable competency, owning considerable property in Mt. Pleasant and 
he was a director in the Isabella County State Bank. He formerly- owned an 
excellent eighty-acre farm in Lincoln township, which he sold in 19 10. He 
was a man of ambition and a hustler. 

Fraternally Mr. Cole was a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, 
the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being past 
grand master of the latter, all of Mt. Pleasant. He was quite prominent in 
these orders, taking an active part in them. ^fr. Cole was formerly a mem- 
ber of the Rebekahs. 

Personally, Mr. Cole was interested in the general development of Isabella 
county and was always ready to do his full share in supporting and furthering 
any laudable movement looking to the general good. He was charitable, kind, 
genteel, and because of his known honest and straightforward methods of 
business, he easily won and retained the confiflence and good will of all who 
knew him. 



THOMAS MILLS. 



One of the owners of valuable and extensive farming interests in Gil- 
more township, Isabella county, is Thomas Mills. His splendid property has 
been acquired through his own efforts, his persistency of purpose and his de- 
termination, and the prosperity which is the legitimate reward of all earnest 
eft'ort is today his. He is a man who believes that the things worth while in 
life must be fought for. that nothing of much consequence comes to the inac- 
tive and the castle builder, his slogan having always been. "Keep busy and be 
honest." 

Mr. Mills was born in Oxford county, Ontario, September 10, 1863, 
and is the son of James and Ann Mills. The father, who was a native of 
Canada, died when his son Thomas was two years old : the mother was born 
in Oxford county, Ontario, Canada, in 1840, and is now living in Ionia 
countv, Michigan. These parents were married in Oxford county and be- 
came the parents of these children: Will; Jennie died in 1886: Thomas, of 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 499 

tilis review, Mr. and Mr.s. James Mills lived in Canada until the father's 
death, then the mother came to limia county, Michitjan, married a second time, 
and her last husband is also deceased. She experienced many hardships after 
the death of her first husband, supporting her children by taking in washing 
and working out. but, l)eing a woman of rare courage and stal)iiity. she suc- 
ceedeil in rearing her family in respectability. Thomas was about seven years 
of age when she brought him to Ionia county, where the father had purchased 
a farm, and there the subject received a limited education. He assisted iiis 
step-father clear the farm, working there until he was thirteen years of age, 
then worked out, receiving seven dollars per month. His brother, who left 
home with him, received eight dollars per month. For two years he hired 
out in the summer and attended school in the winter, doing chores for his 
I)oard on a farm. He then returned to Canada and worked on a farm for his 
uncle until he was seventeen vears old, receiving ten dollars per month and 
board. Having heard that conditions w'ere good in Isabella county, he came 
here by way of Detroit and Reed City. He had a short time previously 
worked three weeks, braking on a railroad at London. Canada. He had 
about se\'enty-five dollars when he reached this county. He remained at the 
home of his uncle in Gilmore township until he could find suitable employ- 
ment. He worked in the woods at intervals for nine years; then he and 
his brother took up eighty acres of land, for which they jiaid the sum of 
eight hundred dollars, on the installment plan. The place was dixided into 
fortv acres each. Thomas finally buying bis Ijrother's interest. l'])on moving 
to the farm his sister kept house for him for three years or until her death in 
i88t. This place was hea\ily timliered with tlie exception of a few acres, 
and there was not a building on it. He erected some meager shanties, includ- 
ing a stable just large enough to hold a yoke of oxen and .i cow. the hay 
being kept outside. The country roundabout was wild and deer were fre- 
quently seen near the house. 

When twenty-seven years old, in 1890, Mr. Mills was married to Eliza- 
beth Wright, for whom he went to Canada, and there they were married on 
|;mu;ir\- <)tli of the year mentioned, after which they came to Isabella county 
to reside. Mrs. Mills, who is the daughter of David and Rachael Wright, 
was born in Oxford county. Ontario, on a farm. May 14, 1864. Mr. Mills 
set to work with a will and gradually brought his land under cultivation, and 
in due course of time had a very comfortable home and a good farm, al- 
though not until he had passed through much trying experience. He is now 
the owner of one hundred and twenty acres, his other forty being in section 
27, Gilmore township, which he uses for pasture, through which a creek flows. 



500 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

and this is excellent land. He has kept his eig^hty acres under cultivation, rais- 
ing abundant crops. He deserves great credit for what he has accomplished 
as a farmer and for the hard work he has done in developing a place from the 
wilds until it ranks with the best farms in the township. He has built three 
different barns on his place, the last one being one of the largest and best in 
the neighborhood, and also built several large sheds. The first log house he 
built was burned, this being replaced with a better dwelling, in which he lived 
until 1903, then moved to his present place, a very substantial. con\'enient and 
attractive building, finished in red oak, a very desirable grade of wood for this 
purpose. He has a good cellar, basement, windmill, circular-roofed barn — in 
fact, evervthing about his place indicates that a gentleman of excellent taste 
and good judgment has its management in hand. He has prospered by reason 
of hard work and good management and has laid by a fair competence for 
his declining years. Mr. Mills is preparing to rent his farm and take life 
easier, since he is evidently entitled to a little respite, owing to his former 
years of hard work. The last few years have brought prosperity to him. He 
has li\-ed to see a vast change in this country, for when he first came here 
there were no roads, only Indian trails, and he helped chop out the first road 
through this vicinity. He has taken much interest in the general development 
of the locality and has done his full share in this line. Politically, he is a 
Republican, but has never been an aspirant for office. He is a member of the 
Disciple church in Gilmore. Having lived here so long, he is well and favor- 
ably known throughout the county. He has belonged to the Grange for 
eleven years and has taken a very active part in the local lodge. Mr. and Mrs. 
Mills have no children. They are both popular and influential in the neigh- 
borhood and have a host of warm personal friends. 



REV. A. P. MacDONALD. 

The writer of biography, dealing with the personal history of men en- 
gaged in the various affairs of every-day life, occasionally finds a subject whose 
record commands exceptional interest and admiration and especially is this 
true when he has achie\ed more than ordinary success or made his influence 
felt as a leader of thought and a benefactor of his kind. The Rev. A. P. Mac- 
Donald, now engaged as a farmer and stock raiser in Wise township, where 
he maintains one of the "show places" of Isabella county, is eminently of that 
class who earn the indisputable right to rank in the van- of the army of pro- 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 5OI 

gressi\e men and 1)\' reason of a long and strenuous career devotetl to tlie 
good of his fellows he occupies a position of wide influence and has made a 
name which will long live in tiie hearts and affections of the peojjle. having 
heen engaged in the work of the ministry for many years. 

Rev. Mr. MacDonald was born in Colborne. Xorthumljerland ci)unty. 
Ontario, in 1857. lie is the son of James G. and Catherine ( Morrison) Mac- 
Donald, both born in Canat'.a. The paternal grandfather was a Scotchman. 
The subject grew to maturity in Canada and was reared on a farm until lie 
began to prepare himself for a wider and greater sphere of influence. For 
eight years he was successfully engaged in general blacksmilhing and carriage 
making, disposing of this business in 1S77 for the purpose of entering school 
for the preparation of the Ciospel ministry. He came to Port Huron, Michi- 
gan, in 1 88 1, where he remained some two years, supplying the First Baptist 
church of Brockway and Columbus while further preparing himself for his 
future work, and was ordained December i, 1881, in Columbus, St. Clair 
ciiunty. Michigan. He became pastor of the First Baptist church of Lyons, 
Ionia county, in 1883. Leaving there, he moved to Mt. I'lerisaui in 1886 and 
was for four years pastor of the First Baptist church there. During this 
pristorate he organized seven other Baptist churches and built five houses of 
worshi]) and the memlicrship at Mt. Pleasant increased from si.xteen to one 
hundred and fifty during the fi>ur years. He resigned to accept the district sec- 
retaryship of the Baptist state missions, and he continued in that work with 
much credit to himself and to the satisfaction of all concerned for a ])eriod of 
thirteen years. Resigning that position to take charge of the chapel car "Herald 
of Hope" for the .American Baptist PuWication Society, of F'hiladclphia. 
Pennsylvania, was manager of the same for five years and seven months, 
making a great success of the enterprise. While secretary his district covered 
the north half of the state of Michigan. He was a very assiduous worker 
and carried to a successful issue whatever he undertook. .\s a pastor he built 
up the congregation he served, greatly strengthening the various charges en- 
trusted to him, and as an expounder of the doctrines of the Xazarene he was 
earnest, learned and often truly eloquent, and, being a man of humanitarian 
impulses, he was faithful in his altentions tn those in need in iiis congregation. 
thus winning the esteem and love of all who knew him. 

But such ardent zeal and persistent endeavor began to undermine his 
health and he was compelled to give up his work, and he retireil Id his 
present farm of one hundred and sixty acres in section 21. Wise township. 
Isabella county, in June, 1905. Since tlien he has carried on general farming 
very successfully, but he is gradually transforming his place into a stock 



502 ISABELLA COLXTV. MICHIGAN'. 

farm. He raises an excellent grade of stock, registered Berkshire hogs, 
mixed cattle, inclining to the Hereford breed, and at present has a fine regis- 
tered bull. He has laid four hundred rods of tile and has his place well 
fenced, with four miles of wire. He has made many substantial improve- 
ments on his place, removed his barn, cleared fifty acres, now having one 
hundred acres under cultivation. He has placed a large basement under his 
barn, and. in fact, has made all necessary improvements to make a valuable 
and desirable farm. He is a member of the Wise Farmers" Club. 

Rev. MacDonald was married May 4, 1882, to Bertha Pearce. who was 
born in Columbus, St. Clair county. Michigan. She is a woman of many 
estimable traits of character and has been of great assistance to her husband 
in his various lines of endeavor. 

The subject assisted in the organization and establishment of the Central 
State Normal, before the state owned it. Politically, he is a Republican. He 
still preaches at intervals, but has no regular work, devoting his attention to 
his farming and stock raising. 

The following children have been iDorn to Rev. MacDonald and wife: 
Clarence P.. who will graduate from the dental department of the State 
University at Ann Arbor in 1911, is a member of the Delta Sigma fraternity; 
Grace, who married Dr. W. H. Wismer, lives in Grand Rapids ; she is highly 
educated, having graduated from the high school and normal at ]\It. Pleasant 
and also from the Conservatoiy of Music at Detroit : Ralph H.. who graduated 
from the ]\It. Pleasant high school in 1909. is living at home and is carrier 
on a free rural delivery route : Xorris B. is living at home. 



CHARLES CODDINGTOX. 

The subject of this sketch is a native of Michigan, having been born in 
St. Joseph county, in the year 1842. He spent the boyhood years of his life 
near the place of his birth, attended, as opportunity afiforded. the public 
schools and grew up strong, vigorous and well fitted for the future and the 
duties and responsibilities which he subsequently encountered. In .\ugust, 
186 1, when nineteen years of age, he enlisted in Company A. Eleventh Michi- 
gan Infantry, with which he served three years and one month, during which 
time he rose by successive promotions to the rank of captain and participated 
in a number of noted campaigns and battles. The Eleventh Regiment was in 
the Fourteenth Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, and experienced much 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 5O3 

hard service, includint^ the battle of Stone River, tlie various engagements 
around Atlanta and other fighting elsewhere, in all of wiiich the subject 
received only a slight seal]) woimd and was not absent a day from duty. .\t 
the expiration of his period of enlistment, September 30. 1864, he was hon- 
orably discharged and. returning to Michigan immediately thereafter, bought 
eighty acres of land in Kalamazoo county, wliich lie at once proceeded to 
clear and improve. 

Mr. Coddington labored hard but ettectively on this land and in due lime 
had the greater part under cultivation and substantial buildings erected. After 
living on the farm until 1868, he sold out and moved to Washington county, 
Kansas, where he ])urchased a half section of land which he afterwards in- 
creased by an additional hundred acres and on which he lived until 1876. 
After the death of his wife in'that year, he rettu-ned to his native state and 
during the ensuing two years farmed in St. Joseph county. Having been 
elected sherifT of that county, he discontinued agricultural pursuits at the 
expiration of the period indicated to attend to the duties of his ofitice which 
he held one term with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the public. 
On quitting the shrie\alt)- b.e again sold out and went to Colorado, where he 
engaged in mining, a venture which did not prove a success, as he had antic- 
ipated. During the two \ears which he devoted to mining, he not only failed 
tn realize a fortune, but, on the contrary, lost all he possessed, so that wJK-n 
he returned to Michigan he was obliged to begin at the bottom of the ladder 
and make his waj' by slow degrees. From the time of his return from tiie 
West until 1890 he sold goods on the road, but in the latter year resigned his 
position and bought fortv acres of land in Union township, Isabella coinitv, 
which he im])r<jved and on which he continued to reside during the eight vears 
ensmng. Disposing of his farm at the end of that time, he entered the go\- 
ernment mail service as a rural roiUe carrier, with central office at Mt. Pleas- 
ant, a position which he still holds. 

Mr. Coddington owns a home in the alwve city and, notwithstanding his 
reverses, is in comfortable circumstances. He is a well read anrl widelv in- 
formed man. familiar with the leading questions of the day and in touch with 
the times on all matters of general interest. His first wife, to whom allusion 
has already been made, was Lucy Dunfee. whom he married in St. Joseph 
county and who departed this life in Kansas in the year 1876. Two years 
after that date he entered the marriage relation with Addie W'atkins. and in 
1S90 Mrs. Carrie ( .Xtkins ) Kyer became his wife. By his first wife there 
were three children, namely : Bertha, who married a Mr. Lee and lives in 
Bangt)r. Michigan; Cora, wife of Wells G. Brown, of Lansing, and Lydia. 



504 



ISABFLLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



who is single and lives at home. Tliere were two children by the second 
marriage: Harry, a plumber of Mt. Pleasant, whose wife was formerly Alma 
Wright, and Kate, now ]\Irs. Harry Hewitt, of Lansing, the last union being 
witliout issue. 

The following is a brief outline of Mrs. Coddington's family history. Her 
father, George Atkins, whose birth occurred in Nottingham, England, May 
1 6, 1820, was by trade a lace designer and maker. He came to the United 
States in the spring of 1847 and spent the seven years following on a farm 
in New York, working the greater part of that time near Sackett's Harbor for 
montlilv wages. He cultivated a farm for one year on the shares and then 
bought twenty-four acres of land on which he lived until 1855. when he sold 
out and moved to Michigan. On coming to this state he purchased eighty- 
seven and one-half acres of land in Union township, Isabella county, and later 
bought an additional eighty acres in Lincoln township, and in due time became 
quite well to do. During his early experience in Coe township, AL'. Atkins 
made in one spring eight hundred pounds of maple sugar on the family cook 
stove. Two of his neighbors having made considerable sugar also, the three 
loaded a boat with the sweet cargo and started down the Saginaw river to 
market. They had not proceeded far on the way until the boat struck a snag 
and capsized and the cargo sank, to be dissolved l)y the waves, causing a very 
heavv loss, as the men were depending upon it for food for their families and 
various other articles, it being their only source of income at the time. 

As already stated, Mr. Atkins was a lace maker and designer, his father 
having been the proprietor of large lace factories in Nottingham, England. 
He came to America primarily for his health, but, being pleased with the 
country, decided to remain and seek his fortune on this side of the Atlantic. 
He was married in his native country in May, 1843, to Sophia Hodsin, daugh- 
ter of Joseph and Sarah (\\'allace) Hodsin. Mrs. A.tkins was born March 
18. 1818. and bore her husband the following children: Joseph, William. 
Sarah. Carrie, wife of Mr. Coddington ; Susan, George and an infant that 
died unnamed, all but Mrs. Coddington being deceased. The oldest child was 
born before the family left England, the next three in New York, and the last 
two in Isabella county. 

Mr. Atkins was one of the first settlers of Isabella county and experienced 
all the hardships and vicissitudes of life during the pioneer periotl. In 1865 
he bought another eighty acres of laud in Lincoln township, and at that time 
he was one of the largest owners of real estate in the county, also one of the 
most influential citizens. He served two years as justice of the peace, three 
years as postmaster, nine successive years as tax collector, besides filling every 



ISABKI.LA COL'N'TY. MICHIGAN. 505 

otlier local office within the gift of the pulihc. lie early hecamc one of the 
Republican leaders in Isabella county, and until his death tmik an active part 
in ])ul)lic and political affairs. Me was made an Odd hellow in Jiis nati\e 
country and was largely instrumental in establishing several lodges of the 
order in Isabella county in an early day. He died in Mt. Pleasant in the year 
1906. 



W l.XI-IELD S. McMILLEX. 

The well-known business man of whom the biographer writes in this 
connection has achie\ed distinctive success in the different spheres of effort to 
wbirli his talents have lieen devoted, and as a citizen, interested in all that 
concerns the advancement of his county and the development of its resources, 
he occujiies a deservedly conspicuous place in the esteem and confidence of the 
])iil)lic. W'infield S. McMillen is a native of Clarion county. Peiuisylvania. 
and a son of James and Sarah J- McMillen. both l)orn in that county, the 
I'ather in 1827. the mother in the year 18.^5. Al)out the year icSfj^ they moved 
to Lucas county. Iowa, ami after a residence of thirteen years in that state, 
came to Isabella county, Michigan, and settled on a farm of eighty- acres in 
\'ernon townshi]). where they both spent the remainder of their li\es. Mr. 
McMillen departing this life in 1900 and his wife in 1905. 

W'inl'ield S. McMillen was born in the year 1855 and was eight years 
old when his parents migrated to Iowa. During the thirteen years spent in 
that state he worked on the farm as soon as old enough for his services to 
be utilized, attended the district schools and proved a worthy and efficient 
assistant to his father as long as the family remained in the West. In 1876 
he accompanied his parents upon their removal to Michigan, and the same 
year bought eighty acres of land in section 36, \'ernon township, thirty acres 
of which he cleared and improved, and later jjiuxhased a similar tract in sec- 
tion 30 of the same county and township, the greater part of which he re- 
duced to cultivation. In the meantime. 1883. he disposed of his original pur- 
chase and during the several years ensuing devoted his attention to the im- 
])rovement and cultivation of his land in section 30. which in due time, under 
his effective labors and judicious management, became one of the finest farms 
and among the most beautiful and desirable rural homes in the township. The 
place is nearly all fenced with wire and well drained and the buildings, in- 
cluding a large and well-appointed barn and a fine luodern residence, are sub- 
stantially constructed and in e.xcellent repair. 



506 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

In 1899 Air. ]^IcAIillen turned his land o\er to the other liands and oc- 
cupied the position of foreman of the Carnegie docks at Conneaut, Ohio, but 
after three years in that capacity returned to the farm, removing thence to 
Mt. Pleasant a short time afterward. In 1904 he engaged in the coal busi- 
ness, which he still carries on and to which after three years he added a full 
line of general groceries, feed, etc., and now has the largest establishment of 
the kind in the city, his coal business alone amounting to more than ten thou- 
sand dollars per year. He has been equally successful in his other lines, at 
the present time commands a very extensive and lucrative patronage, and oc- 
cupies a conspicuous place among the leading business men of his city and 
county besides being widely known in commercial circles throughout the 
state. Mr. McMillen has not been unmindful of his duties as a citizen nor 
lacking in interest concerning the general gootl of the community. He served 
one year as highway commissioner of Vernon township, three years as treas- 
urer of the school district and three years as moderator of the school district, 
and since moving to \h. Pleasant he has represented the first ward in the city 
council for two years. A Democrat in politics and in thorough accord with 
his party on the leading questions of the times, he can hardly be called a poli- 
tician, neither does he entertain ambition for public preferment or leadership. 
He is essentially a business man and as such makes his influence felt in the 
circles in wliich he operates: he has been prosperous as a farmer also and is 
today one of the financially solid men of Isabella county, his interests in both 
city and country being large and important and placing him in independent 
circumstances. Fraternally, he belongs to Lodge No. 217, Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows, in Mt. Pleasant and holds membership with the Court of 
Honor, as does his wife also. 

In the year 1883 Mr. Mci\lillen and ]^Iary E. Phillips, of Wavne cuuntv, 
Michigan, were made husband and wife, the latter being a daughter of Nicho- 
las J. and Cynthia J. Phillips, the father born in England in 1835, the mother 
in Xew York in the year 18..14. These parents were married in New York state 
and in an early day moved to Wayne county, Michigan, where their daughter, 
Mary E., was born in 1864. About the year 1868 they disposed of their inter- 
ests there and came to Isabella county, locating in Gilmore township, where Mr. 
Phillips procured land and engaged in farming. They were among the earliest 
settlers of the above township and experienced the hardships and vicissitudes 
of pioneer life while establisliing a home in what was then a new and sparsely 
settled country. The nearest market place was Alt. Pleasant, thirteen miles 
away and Mr. Phillips often carried flour and other necessities from the town, 
making his way through the woods by means of a dimly marked trail and not 



ISABELLA COl'NTV. MICHIGAN. 5O7 

iiifrc(|uently l)econiing confused ere reachiiio- liis lumic. Mr. and Mrs. IMiillips 
still live wliere they uriginalK' settled, a hale and heart\- old CDUplc. who enjoy 
the friendship and esteem of a host of neighhors and acquaintances. During 
their residence of forty-two years in Gilmore township they lia\e seen the 
country develop from a wilderness into a very garden of plentx- and beauty, 
and to the e.Ktent of their abilities have contributed to the bringing alraut of 
conditions that now obtain. Mr. and Mrs. McMillen are the parents of two 
chiklren. a son. Ir\ing, and a daughter who answers to the name of \'illa. 
The former, who was born in the year 1884, is his father's partner and one 
of the enterprising business men of Mt. Pleasant. He married Julia .\ns- 
baugh, whose birth occurred the same year as his own. and is well situated, 
owning a beautiful home in the city and an interest in one of the leading 
commercial estal)lishnicnts. \'illa was Ijorn in 1888 and is still w itli her ])ar- 
ents. She received a high school education and graduated in 19 10 from tiie 
State Xormal School at Mt. Pleasant, holds a life certificate as a teacher, and 
is now engaged in teaching in the ])ublic schools at Clare. Michigan. She is 
an intelligent and cultured lady who moves in the best social circles of the 
citv in which she lises. 



FR.XXKLIX W. ELLIS. 

Esteemed as a citizen and honored as a defender of the Hag during the 
period when the armed hosts of reliellion attempted to disrupt the national 
muon. there arc few men in Isabella county as widelx and favorably known 
as the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch. Franklin W. 
Ellis was born February i i. 184J. in \\'yoming county. Xew York, and grew 
to manhood familiar with the wholesome discii)line of farm life. He re- 
cei\ed a common school education and remained with his parents until the 
national skies became o\ercast with the ominous clouds of civil war. when, 
with true patriotic devotion, he laid aside the implements of husbandpi- and 
tendered his services to the government. Enlisting in April. 18^)0. in Com- 
pany I-", of the Thirty-third Xew ^'ork Infantry, he sened with that regiment 
until honorably discharged on June 2^d of the year 1863. Shortly after the 
latter date he re-enlisted in the Twenty-fifth Xew \'ork Independent Battery, 
with which he remained until September, 1865, spending the last two years of 
his army service on the Mississippi and in the department of the (iulf uniler 
General Canby. 

The Thirty-third Xew York formed a part of the Army of the Potomac 



5o8 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

and saw much active service in Virginia during the early part of the war. Mr. 
Ellis shared with both of his commands their various experiences of camp 
and battle, was under McClellan until that general was succeeded successively 
by Burnside and Hooker, and particijjated in nearly all the fighting in which 
those leaders were engaged. He was in all the battles in which the Army of 
the Potomac took part, including the second battle of Fredericksburg, where 
his regiment fought after its time had expired, losing one hundred and fifty 
of the three hundred men engaged. In a battle at Bottom's Bridge, Virginia, 
he fell into the hands of the enemv, but in the afternoon of the same day he 
was recaptured by men from his own regiment. During his long and varied 
military experience he received no injury, although, as previously stated, he 
was in many of the bloodiest battles of the war and never shirked a duty how- 
ever difficult or dangerous. At the expiration of bis period of enlistment lie 
returned to his native state, where he remained until the spring of 1869, when 
he moved to Isabella county, Michigan, and purchased one hundred and 
twenty acres of land in Coldwater township, which under his efficient labors 
were cleared in due time and developed into one of the best farms in the 
locality. 

In connection with agricultural pursuits, Mr. Ellis, in partnership with 
his brother, \\"esley. kept a hotel at Sherman City for seven years, and later 
the two engaged in the lumber business in which they built up an extensive 
trade and were c|uite successful. After a residence of twenty-seven years in 
Coldwater township, Mr. Ellis sold his farm and moved to Mt. Pleasant, but 
continued the lumber business for some time thereafter, principalh" in Mont- 
morency and neighboring counties. In February, 1897, he went to Alaska on 
a prospecting tour, but after spending one season there, returned the following 
October, since which time he has been engaged in different enterprises in Isa- 
bella county, besides coming prominently before the people as a public ofticial. 
In the year 1899 he was elected sheriff of the county and served two terms, 
proving a very capable and judicious official. He was highway commissioner 
in Coldwater township for a period of eight years, during which time he 
helped lav out nearlv e\-erv public rnacl in that part of the countv, besides 
being active and influential in de\"eloping the resources of the country. 

Mr. Ellis has been a stanch Republican ever since old enough to exer- 
cise the electixe franchise and since becoming a citizen of Isabella county he 
has forged rapidly to the front as an able and discreet party leader and suc- 
cessful campaigner. When he came to this part of the state the nearest road 
was sixty-five miles distant, but since then he has seen Isabella county grow 
into one of the finest and most prosperous counties of the commonwealth, with 



ISABELLA COL'NTV. M ICHICAN . 5O9 

railway and other nuKlcrn facilities on every hand, in the liringing about of 
wiiich condition he has not been a spectator merelx , but a prominent and in- 
fluential factor. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic at Mt. 
Pleasant, in which he has held important official positions, and also belonsjs to 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, whicii has likewise honored him from 
time to time with official trusts. 

Mr. Ellis was married in January, 1874. to Mary .\. Bright, who has 
presented him with one child, a daughter. Elsie, now the wife of George F. 
Johnson and living in Kenosha. Wisconsin. Two other children are deceased, 
Vernon W'., who died al the age of fourteen months, and Iva J.. whi> died at 
the age of twentv-three. 



CHARLES SL.VTER. 



Charles Slater, teacher of carpentry at the Indian Industrial School. Mt. 
Pleasant, also instructor in that branch of mechanics, was born in Halderman 
county, Ontario. October 27, 1846, having first seen the light of dav in the 
town of Caledonia, where his father, William Slater, of Derbyshire, England, 
settled some years before. \\ illiam Slater came to America in 1828, when 
about fourteen years old, and located at Johnstown, New York, where he sub- 
secpiently married Sarah Matilda Horton. the daughter of a veteran of the 
war of 1812 and granddaughter of a Revolutionary soldier. Later he went to 
Canada, where several of his children were born, and in July. 1868. mo\ed to 
Saginaw, Michigan, where he worked for some time at carpentry. 

Charles Slater spent his early life in his native province and when a young 
man learned carpentry under his father. He accompanied his parents upon 
their removal to Michigan in the year indicated above, worked w itli his father 
and brother at Saginaw until October, 1872. when the family, consisting of 
the parents and several children, moved to Isabella county. Michigan, and set- 
tled about three and a half miles southwest of Mt. Pleasant, on a tract of 
land of which but ten acres \\ere improved. Here, amid surroundings not 
altogether inviting, the father and sons addressed themselves to the task of 
developing a farm, and in due time their laljors were crowned with success, 
the home which they established being among the best in the locality and still 
in the family name. W'illiam Slater ended his days in this place, dying about 
1883 or '84, at the age of seventy years, his widow, who survived him until 
ir)o6, deiiarting this life in I'.er eighty-first year. 

Charles Slater remaincc' with his parents until the farm was well umler 



5IO ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

way and in 1875 came to Mt. Pleasant, where he resumed the carpenter's 
trade. His proficiency as a mechanic was not long in being recognized and 
shortly after his arrival he became one of the leading builders of the city. 
When the Indian Industrial School was established he assisted in erecting the 
various buildings and at the opening of the institution he was given charge of 
the carpentry department, which position he has since filled with credit to 
himself and to the satisfaction of the management. In addition to looking 
after buildings, keeping them in repair and doing various other kinds of work 
in his line, Mr. Slater teaches carpentry to tlie students and to his credit be it 
said that not a few Indian youths have left the school first-rate mechanics 
and are now maintaining themselves and families by their trade. During the 
seventeen years which he has devoted to the post he now holds he has been 
unremitting in his duties, faithful to every trust reposed in him and today 
there is no one connected with the institution who stands higher in the esteem 
of the students and management or enjoys to a greater degree the confidence 
of the public. 

From 1875 until 1909 Mr. Slater lived in Mt. Pleasant, but, the better to 
attend to the duties of his position, he removed in the latter year to tiie campus 
where he now occupies a small but comfortable home well suited to the needs 
of his family, which has been constantly decreasing in numbers the meanwhile. 
While in Saginaw he united with the Presbyterian church and for a period of 
thirty years has been an elder of the same, in addition to which he is also a 
member of the board of trustees, holding both positions in the church in Mt. 
Pleasant, to which he transferred his membership upon his removal tn the 
latter city. His life has been consistent with his religious profession, being 
active in all lines of church and charitable work and ready at all times to lend 
his influence and support to enterprise and measure for the good of his fellow 
men. 

Mr. Slater, in the year 1876, was united in the bonds of wedlock with 
Matilda Whitehead, whose father was William Whitehead, a native of Lincoln- 
shire, England, who located in Wayne county, New York, and came to Isa- 
bella county, Michigan, in 1865, engaging in farming near Mt. Pleasant. For 
some years previous to marriage. Matilda Whitehead taught in the schools of 
the county and ranked among tlie most efficient and popular teachers in the 
city of Mt. Pleasant. She is a lady of fine mind and exemplary character, and 
by her culture and beautiful life has attained to a prominent place in the best 
social circles in the city in which she formerly resided. Mr. and Mrs. Slater 
have six children, all well educated, the majority holding important positions 
which they have dignified and honored. Mary, the oldest of the family, began 



ISABELLA COl'NTY, MICHIGAN. 5II 

teaching in Isabella cuuiity. ruul is now on her seventeenth consecutive year as 
an educator, holding at this time the chair of English in the liigh school of 
Elk Rapids, Anna E., the second in order of birth, was for five years stenog- 
ra])her with the Daugherty mercantile firm of Detroit, and later went to 
IV)rto Rico to accept a similar position in the city of San Juan, where she is 
at present located. Bessie E. went to Porto Rico as a teacher in the employ of 
the government and is liow supervisor of the schools of San Juan : she married 
John W. Zimmerman, who is in the insular service, both being highly esteemed 
in the city of their residence. Eolah C. also a teacher by profession, taught in 
the schools of Bayport and Traverse City and now holds a ])osition in the high 
school of the latter place. Walter C. like his sisters, took kindly to educational 
work, but his promising career was cut short by his untimely death at the age 
of twenty-one while principal of schools at Boyne Falls, this state. Sarah 
Ruth, the youngest of the family and a teacher of more than local reputation, 
holds an important position in the schools of Grayling. Michigan, where her 
work is bighl_\- appreciated. All of Mr. Slater's children enjoyed the best 
available educational advantages, finishing the public school course in Mt. 
Pleasant, and later being graduated from the Central Normal School of that 
city. They have made commendable advancement in their chosen spheres of 
endeavor and the res])()nsible positions which they now occui)y bear ample tes- 
timony to their intelligence, liberal culture and sterling worth. Air. Slater is 
well versed on the c|uestions of the day. while in point of general information 
he is recognized as one of the most intelligent men of the community. He 
holds membership w itli the Masons of Mt. Pleasant, having attained the 
Knight Templar degree, and, though devoted to the duties of the position he 
holds, he finds time to meet the responsibilities which every true citizen owes 
to the public. 



WILLI AM WEST. 



For a number of years the subject of this sketch was a prosperous farmer 
and stock raiser, but having accumulated a sufficiency of this world's goods to 
enable him to discontinue active lalwr, he recently turnetl his farm over to 
other hands and mo\ed to Mt. Pleasant, where he is now living in honorai)le 
retirement. William West is a native of Kingston, Ontario, and dates his 
birth from the year 1849. When about seven years of age, he was taken to 
Perth county, in the same province, by his parents and there spent his early 
life, attending at intervals the public schools and learning in his young man- 



512 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

liood tlie trade of carpentry. Leaving Canada in 1869, he located in York 
county, Michigan, where he worked at his trade until 1871, when he returned 
to his native province. After spending about one year there, he again came 
to Michigan and from 1872 until after the panic of the following year lived 
at the town of Caseville. Huron county, and supported himself by his labors 
as a Iniilder. 

In the latter part of 1873 ^^''- West again returned to Canada, where he 
followed agricultural pursuits during the ensuing seven years, in the mean- 
time, 1875, jjeing united in marriage with Mary Ann Hennessey, who was 
born and reared in the province of Ontario. In 1880, with his wife and three 
children and accompanied by his parents and two brothers, he moved to Isa- 
bella county, Michigan, and bought eighty acres of land in section 25, Isabella 
township, all in the woods and presenting any but an inviting prospect for a 
home. He at once addressed himself to the task of clearing and improving his 
land and was obliged to work single-handed, his father, who was a painter by 
trade, being unable to render him any assistance in the cutting of timber, grub- 
bing andother hard labor required to fit the soil for cultivation. By persever- 
ing effort, however, he finally succeeded in not only developing and improving 
a very valuable farm, but in adding to his realty from time to time, until he 
now owns two hundred and forty acres of as fine land as the county of Isabella 
affords, besides a beautiful residence in Mt. Pleasant and four city lots wliich 
are constantly growing in value. 

Mr. West cleared the greater part of his land with his own hands and 
made all of his improvements, including three large, commodious barns and 
an imposing modern dwelling, the main part twenty by thirty feet, the wing 
eighteen by thirty feet, two stories high and a model of architectural skill. By 
a successful system of drainage he has greatly enhanced the productiveness 
of his land and, as already stated, his farm is today among the best improved 
and most valuable in the tov.-nship. For some years, Mr. West, in addition to 
general farming, has devoted a great deal of attention to the breeding and 
raising of Durham cattle, a branch of farming w hich proved highly remunera- 
ti\e, but of recent years he has been more interested in the Holstein breed, of 
which he now has a number of very fine animals, including a registered bull 
which represents an investment of no small magnitude. He also raises high 
grade sheep and hogs, and his horses, which are of the best breeds, always 
command high prices. Mr. West has been prosperous far beyond the majority 
of farmers, his success being due entirely to his persevering labors, economical 
thrift and good management. In the full meaning of the term, he is a self- 
made man, also an enterprising citizen whose efforts to promote the ad\ance- 



ISABELLA COUN'TY. MICHIGAN. 5I3 

nient of tlie ciiminunity lia\e l)een unsparing and whose iiitUience has ever 
been exerted in behalf of what he deems for the Ijest interests of his fellow- 
men. He is one of the leading Democrats of Isal)ella county, prominent in 
the councils of his party, and an active and successful worker for its success 
in campaign years. He served two terms as treasurer of his township, aside 
from which he has held no elective office, neither has he desired any such ex- 
pression of public favor. Religiously he was burn and reared a Catholic and 
has ever remained true to the teachings of the mother church, belonging at 
this time to the congregation worshiping in Mt. Pleasant, with which his 
family is also identified. As already indicated. Mr. West now resides at the 
county seat, where he removed about three years ago and where he is now 
well situated to enjoy the material comforts and blessings which he has so 
faithfully earned and u> which he is scj nol>ly entitled. He is highly esteemed 
by his fellow men and. though practically retired, still gives personal attention 
to his business interests and keeps abreast of the times on all matters of ])ublic 
import. 

Mr. and Mrs. West have a family of eight children whose names are as 
follows: John B., a sketch of whom ajipears elsewhere; Anna, a professional 
nurse now in Chicago ; Alice T.. who is engaged in the telephone service at 
Mt. Pleasant: Minnie, wife of Sydney Soules. of Boyne City, Michigan: 
Thomas, who married Hazel L\nn. and li\es at West Branch, this state: Will- 
iam, who was accidentally killed in a railway collision when eighteen vears 
of age; George, who married Ethel ]\IcKenzie. li\es on and manages his 
father's farm: and Fred, who .is unmarried and makes his home with his 
brother George, with whom he is interested in farming and stock raising. All 
of Mr. West's children are intelligent and respected, and those that ha\e left 
the parental roof to establish Immes of their own or engage in various lines 
of enterprise, are doing w ell and are highly esteemed in their several pldCes of 
residence. 



W.\RRKX WIXG. 



Among the older citizens of Isabella county is Warren \\ ing. a prosper- 
ous farmer of Fremont township, where he has maintained his residence since 
the close of the great Civil \>ar, in w liich he participated. Long an influential 
factor in the affairs of his community, he has become widely known and in 
the various relations of farmer, soldier and citizen his record is without a 
blemish and he occupies today a conspicuous place among the enterprising 
(33) 



514 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

men of his dav and generation in the township which he assisted to develop 
anil in which he still makes his home. 

\\'arren Wing was born in Chantanqua county, New York. May 5, 1842, 
being the fourth son and fifth child of Wesley and Salina Wing, both natives 
of the Empire state. The Wing families in America are all descended from 
one family that settled in Massachusetts over two hundred and thirty years 
ago. David Wing, the subject's great-grandfather, was a patriot soldier in 
the Revolutionary war. Wesley W'ing, the subject's father, whose birth oc- 
curred in the year 1800, was married in New York about 1830 to Salina Wil- 
cox and after farming in Chautauqua county until 1850. moved to Iowa, 
where he remained two years, returning to his former home at the expiration 
of that time. Later, 1863, he again moved West, with Alichigan as his des- 
tination, and in due time arrived in Isabella county, where he bought two 
tracts of government land of one hundred and twenty and one hundred and 
sixty acres, respectively, the one hundred and twenty acres being located in 
Union township, where he and his wife died some years ago. He made some 
improvements on his land, clearing in all about seventy-eight acres. Their 
children in order of their birth are as follows : Williard, \\'inthrop, William. 
Anna, who married Levi Williams ; W' arren, Walter, Elmira, wife of Delbert 
Merrill; Angeline, wife of J. K. Wellman ; and Amelia, all deceased, e.xcept 
the subject, and Mrs. Merri" and Walter, both residents of Union township. 

Warren Wing spent his early childhood and youth in his native county 
and when si.x years old was taken to Iowa by his parents, where the family 
lived about two years. Returning to New York at the end of that time, he 
remained in Chautauqua county until 1863, when he accompanied his parents 
to Isabella county, Michigan, locating on the one hundred and sixty acres of 
land in section 2, which his father had previously homesteaded, where he soon 
became accustomed to the hard work and numerous vicissitudes which neces- 
sarily attend the planting of a home in a new and sparsely settled country. In 
.February of the following year he enlisted in Company H, Eighth ^lichigan 
Infantry, and within a short time thereafter accompanied his command to the 
scene of hostilities in Tennessee, where the regiment became a part of the 
Ninth Corps of the Army of the Cumberland. Later the Eighth was trans- 
ferred to the Eastern army, and by reason of the different commands in which 
it served was subsequently known as the wandering regiment, the men not 
knowing one day whither they would be moved or ordered on the morrow. 

Without following Mr. Wing's military experience in detail, suffice to 
state that he shared with his comrades the vicissitudes and fortunes of war in 
a number of campaigns and participated in not a few notable battles, among 



ISAUI.l.UA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 515 

wliicli was tlic bloody engagement or series of engagements in ilic W ilderness. 
where he was sorely wounded in the riglit arm, tliat menil)er being still stiff 
as a result of the injury. He spent several months in a hospital, wiiere his 
wound was treated and where he also was detailed as nurse. Some time after 
the l)atlle of the Wilderness he was transferred to the First Battalion, Six- 
teenth W'teran Keser\e Corps, where he remained alxnil four months, during 
which time his command rendered effectual service in the .\Ileghauy mountain 
region, also assisted in ridding the county of the Ku-Klu.x-Klau, besides being 
detailed at intervals to search for and bring in deserters. He was with his com- 
pany among the .\lleghan\- mountains when General Lee surrendered and later 
was a member of the detachment that searched railway traiiis for John Wilkes 
Booth, the assassin of President Lincoln. 

.After being mustered out of the service in Pittsburgh, Pennsybania, in 
August, 1865, Mr. Wing returned to his native state, where he shortly after- 
wards married Lucinda P>iu-t, of Chautaucjua county, immediately following 
which he brought his bride to Isabella county, Michigan, and set up his domes- 
tic establishment on one hundred and twenty acres of land which he had 
homesteaded prior to entering the army. By energetic and continuous toil he 
cleared the greater part of his land and in due time had a good farm in suc- 
cessful culti\'ation and a number of substantial improvements made. He has 
added to his real estate from time to time until he now owns two hundred and 
five acres, the greater part susceptible to tillage and well improved, his farm 
being among the most productive and valuable in the township, and it is not 
too much to say that there are few, if any, more beautiful or more desirable 
rural homes in the county than the one he has established and occupies. 

Mr. Wing has been quite successful financially and is today among the 
well-to-do men and representative citizens of the community in which he re- 
sides. He is enterprising in all the term implies and public-spirited, lending 
his aid and influence to further all laudable measures for the general wel- 
fare, no worthy project ever ai)i)ealing to him in vain. In addition to 
his own im])rovements, which include a comfortable and commodious dwell- 
ing, a large, modern barn, granary, tool house and various other buildings. 
he has been of great assistance to some of his neighbors in the clearing and 
improving of their farms, besides constructing roads in different parts of his 
own and other townships and helping promote various other utilities which 
have proven beneficial to the public. Mr. Wing is a close student of political, 
social and industrial questions, and has intelligent and well defined views 
relative to these and other matters of interest before the people. He is inde- 
dependent as a thinker, a clear and logical reasoner and his opinions carry 



5l6 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

weight and command respect among his fellow men. A gentleman of strict 
integrity and high character, he is held in great esteem by all who know him 
and the confidence which he commands has been fairly and honorably earned. 
Mrs. \\'ing, who was born in 1843. died a few years ago, having borne her 
husband three children, nan^ely : Williard, who lives on part of his father's 
farm and is a successful tiller of the soil ; Leon is deceased ; and Nellie, who is 
now a widow and lives with her father and manages the home. Mr. Wing 
has served his township in various public capacities, though never a seeker 
after the honors or emoluments of office. He was justice of the peace for 
some years and proved a very capable and judicious official; also served as 
road commissioner and school inspector, in both of which positions he was 
unremitting in his duties to the people. 



HUGH DAY JOHNSTON. 

Farmer and mechanic and for thirty-eight years an honored resident of 
Isabella township, the subject of this sketch is a native of Peel county, Onta- 
rio, and a son of Frank and Elizabeth (Newhouse) Johnston, both of Canadian 
birth. These parents were born in the years 1819 and 1830, respectively, and 
were married in Ontario. The father died on May i, 1875, the mother, who 
survived him, making her home at this time in tlie village of Rosebush, Isa- 
bella county. 

Hugh Day Johnston was born in the month of December, 1848, spent his 
earlv life on his father's farm in Peel county and remained there until his 
removal to Isabella county, Michigan, in 1873. On coming to this part of the 
state, he bought one hundred and twenty acres of land in section 16, Isabella 
township, all wooded, and addressing himself to the task of clearing and de- 
veloping the same, spent the several following years at continual toil, much 
hard labor being required to remove the forest growth and fit the soil for cul- 
tivation. In due time, however, his efforts were rewarded and he now has a 
fine farm with up-to-date improvements, his dwelling, erected in 1875. and a 
commodious barn, in the year 1898, being the results of his own mechanical 
skill. 

In connection with general agriculture. ^Ir. Johnston from time to time 
has (lone considerable carpentry work for his own and other localities, his 
proficiencv as a builder causing his services to be in great demand. He fol- 
lows the trade at the present time when he can be spared from the farm and 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIUAN. 5I7 

today a munber of dwellings, bams and other edifices in different parts of the 
country bear witness to his skill as a first-class mechanic. It is as a tiller of 
the soil, however, that his greatest success has been achieved, his farm at 
the present time being among the best in the township, and his home the 
dwelling place of a family happy amid their surroundings and contented with 
their lot. Mr. Johnston is an excellent neighlior. a praiseworthy citizen and 
keeps in touch wilii ail matters of general interest to the community. He 
stands for law. order and good government, uses his influence on the right 
side of every moral issue, and though quiet and unostentatious in demeanor 
and always attending strictly to his own affairs, his life has been fraught with 
good to all with whom he comes in contact. In his political faith he is a Re- 
publican, in religion a meml)er of tlie Methodist Episcopal church, and frater- 
nally is identified with the Masonic brotherhood, belonging to the blue lodge 
and the chapter of Royal Arch Masons at Mt. Pleasant. 

.Mrs. Johnston, who previous to her marriage was Elizabeth Johnson, 
was Iwrn March 9, 1S50, and has [iresented her husband with eight children, 
namely: .Abigail, who is stil! with her parents: Mary married Weslev Mc- 
Knight and lives in Isabella township; Frank married a Miss Strickle, and is 
a resident of the above township, as is also Maria J., now Mrs. Fred Madison; 
Sarah is the wife of George Xolan, and Susan married Ed. Graham, both gen- 
tlemen being farmers of Isabella townshij) ; Benjamin, the seventh in order 
of birth, runs the famih' homestead, and Athold, the youngest of the number, 
after being graduated from the high school at Mt. Pleasant, entered the Uni- 
versity of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he is pursuing his studies prepara- 
torv to a career of hiinor and influence. 



JOHN WATSON. 



One of the sterling citizens of Isabella county is John Watson, a name 
well known, especially in Denver township, where he has a splendid and at- 
tractively kept landed estate, being regarded as one of the leading agricultur- 
ists of the same. As a result of his industry, integrity and genuine worth he 
is held in high esteem by the people of this vicinity, mainly as a result of his 
principles of modern fanning and progressive and ujiright citizenshi]). 

Mr. Watson was born on November i. ICS65. in Hastings county. On- 
tario, Canada, and he is the son of James and Rosella (Bush) Watson, who 



5l8 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

are mentioned in a separate sketch in this volume. They moved with their 
son, John, into Middlesex county, Ontario, when he was eighteen months old 
and made that their home for six years, at which place the son attended school 
awhile. Then the family moved to Isabella county, Michigan, locating in Isa- 
bella township. Here John grew to manhood and assisted his father with his 
general work, remaining at home and attending the neighborhood schools in 
his early youth. In fact, he did not leave his parental roof-tree until his mar- 
riage, on April i6, 1902, to Martiia Robert in Mt. Pleasant. She was born in 
Erie county. New York, on July 6, 1874. When a child she moved with her 
parents to Livingston county, Michigan, and from there to Isabella county, 
and here she and the subject went to school together. The latter was eight 
years of age when he moved to this county, and the school he attended was 
the Roy district school. He helped his father on the home place, with the e.x- 
ception of four winters, until 1891, when he bought his present place. During 
the four winters referred to he worked in Missaukee county one winter, and 
three winters in Clare county, in the woods. He and his father cleared the 
home farm of about two hundred acres, so he knew what hard work meant all 
his life and he has succeeded as a result of his habits of persistent industry, 
which have been well applied. He bought his present farm of eighty acres, 
as stated, in 1891, for which he paid eighteen hundred and fifty dollars. A 
year later he bought an adjoining forty acres, for which he paid seven hun- 
dred dollars. The place had at that time forty-five acres cleared, but no 
buildings or fences, and was, in fact, entirely unimproved. He worked on his 
place, but boarded at home until 1902, the year of his marriage, after which 
he moved to his place, erected a con\'enient, substantial and attractive dwelling 
of \eneer brick and a large and convenient barn, also other good outbuildings, 
built fences and made all the necessary improvements, and de\eloped his place 
in a manner that stamps him as a twentieth-century farmer of the first grade, 
and his place now ranks with the best in the county. He has, in fact, two 
barns, both large and substantial, a good granary, a sheep barn, and is well 
equipped to cany on general farming and stock raising in a successful man- 
ner. He has put in six or seven miles of tile. There are three fine flowing 
wells on his place, the water being cold and of the best cjuality, no windmill 
being needed. He devotes his attention to grain farming and stock raising on 
an extensive scale, handling horses, cattle, hogs and sheep. He also has forty 
acres of good land, which he uses for pasture, lying two miles east of his 
farm. It is nearly all wooded. Mrs. Watson is the owner of forty acres of 
good land in section 23, Isabella township, making a total of two hundred 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 519 

acres.owned In- tlic family. .Mr. Watson cleared about twenty-five acres of his 
tirst purchase. It liad been neglected and was "run down," but under his 
management it was soon built up and made productive. He has so skillfully 
rotated his crops and built up the soil that it has been greatly strengthened, as 
is shown by the fact that his first oats crop here averaged only eighteen bush- 
els per acre, whereas now sixty bushels per acre are i)roduced. He has worked 
hard and has been successful, achieving a competency unaided, literally 
"digging" it out of the ground. He now has his splendid property out of debt. 

Mrs. Watson's parents, Edward and May Robert, are now living on a 
good farm in Isabella township, this county. ha\ing made their home in sec- 
tion 36 of that locality for the past thirty years, where they are well and most 
favorably known. Mr. Robert has dexoted his life to agricultural pursuits, 
owning a fine farm of two hundred acres. The following children have been 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Watson: James, born Decemlier lo. 1903: Robert. John 
Alexander and Arline. all living at home. 

Mr. Watson is connected with the Illinois Life Insurance Company. Polit- 
ically, he is a Republican, and a member of the Presbyterian church. He was 
township treasurer two years, performing his duties very faithfully. He is 
influential in this township and has an unblemished reputation. 



JAMES A. CLIFF. 

Success has l>een worthily won by the gentleman of whom the biogra])her 
writes in the following lines, a man of strong will and determined purpose 
who has contributed his share to the material development of the county in 
which he lives and forged to the front among the leading citizens of the same. 
James A. Cliff, present deputy sheriff of Isabella county, was born January 
12. 1850. in Leeds county. Ontario, where his father. Samuel Cliff, a native of 
Limerick. Ireland, .settled about the year 1S42. Agnes Cochran, wife of .Sam- 
uel Cliff and mother of the subject, was also of Irish birth, and first saw the 
light of day in the town of Xewey, county Armagh. These parents were mar- 
ried in their native isle and in the year indicated above came to America and 
spent the remainder of their lives in the province of Ontario. The father and 
mother moved to Michigan in 1874 and located in Onondaga, where they died 
and were buried. 

lames A. Cliff was reared to farm labor and remained in his nali\e land 



520 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

until attaining his majority, wlien he severed home ties and came to Michigan, 
locating at Onondago. Ingham county, whither a brother had preceded him. 
For some time after his arrival in this state he worked at clearing land and in 
the lumber woods, spending the ensuing winter at Morley and Millbrook, 
where he was variously employed. During the following six years he worked 
at different occupations and at the expiration of that time was married at the 
town of Onondaga to Ida Buckland, of Ingham county, the ceremony being 
solemnized on the 13th day of September, 1877. Mrs. Clifif's father and 
mother, natives of Connecticut and New York, respectively, came to Michigan 
about 1830 and were among the early pioneers of Ingham county. They stood 
high in the esteem of their neighbors and friends, lived good honest lives and 
their memory is still cherished in the community which they helped to estab- 
lish and from which they were called to their final reward not many years 
ago. He worked at Jackson at the cooper's trade, at which time there were 
but six houses in the town. He remembers the first prison enclosure, which 
was made by placing tamarack poles on end in a trench, making a sort of 
stockade. ^Irs. Clifif was reared and educated in the above county. For some 
time before taking unto himself a wife Mr. Cliff held the position of guardian 
in the state prison at Jackson and served in that capacity until the month of 
March following his marriage. He then severed his connection with the 
institution and went to southern Kansas and took a homestead in Bourbon 
county, which he at once proceeded to improve. Owing to the hot winds 
which destroyed his crops and almost literally burned up the country during 
the two years of his sojourn, he abandoned his claim at the end of that time 
and, sending his wife back to her friends in Michigan, went to Colorado in 
search of something to do. Shortly after reaching that state he found re- 
munerative employment as a miner, at first by the day and later by the job. He 
continued that kind of work until his earnings amounted to about five hundred 
dollars, when he decided to return to Michigan. His brother, who was with 
him in the ^\'est. dying about that time, he started home with the body, but 
meeting with a serious reverse, found himself with barely sufficient means to 
reach his destination and not enough to enable him to return to the West. 

During the next seven years Mr. Cliff lived at Onondaga and devoted his 
time to various kinds of labor. In 1888 he went to Washington territory for 
the purpose of locating, but not being pleased with the country he returned to 
Michigan at the end of a couple of months and took a pre-emption in Houghton 
county, later took another claim in the same locality, both containing fine tim- 
ber and excellent soil. He proved up on these claims and during the five years 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 521 

following not only improved his own land, hut hought land for others, meet- 
ing with gratifying success in these transactions. He afterwards sold the 
above land at a good price and his dealings since then have also resulted greatly 
to his financial advantage as is indicated by the fact of his having realized 
something in excess of six thousand dollars, within the last three or four years. 
Returning to Onondaga after closing out his interests in Houghton county, he 
lived in that town until 189.^, when he changed his residence to Mt. Pleasant, 
removing thence the following year to Weidman, where he now makes his 
home. 

In 1895 Mr. Clif? liought, near the latter place, a small tract of land from 
which the timber had been cut, and at once set to work to remove the stumps 
and roots and tit the soil for cultivation. In the fall of the same year he 
bought an additional eighty acres of stuni]) land, later a forty-acre tract of 
the same kind, both of which he has since cleared of obstructions and other- 
wise improved. Within a few years he has brought this land to a high state 
of cultivation, erected good buildings and at this time has one of the finest 
farms and among the most desirable homes in his part of the county. Mr. 
ClifT has done much to promote the material prosperity of the thriving little 
town near which he lives and is public-spirited in all the term implies. His life 
has been a very active one and, though experiencing not a few reverses, he has 
been quite successful in the main and is now among the well-to-do men and in- 
fluential citizens of the community in which he resides. He has served on the 
school board from time to time and in other public capacities has used his in- 
fluence for the benetit of his town and the social and moral advancement of 
the community at large. In politics he supports the Republican party and in 
religion the Methodist E])iscopal church represents his creed, both himself 
and wife being active members in the local congregation at Weidman. I-'ra- 
ternally he is identified with the Masonic order, being a charter member of 
Xottawa Lodge, Xo. 424. at Weidman. of which he was the first worshipful 
master. He has been prominent in the work of the order, representing his 
lodge in the grand lodge and standing high in the confidence of his brethren 
of the mystic tie. In addition to the above lodge, he belongs to Chapter No 
360, Order of the Eastern Star, and the cha])ter of Royal .\rch Masons at 
Eaton Rapids, his wife being a member of the Eastern Star also and at this 
time is .serving as the treasurer of the chapter with which identified. 

Mr. and Mrs. Cliff have three children: Claude S.. living on the home- 
stead in Saskatchewan, western Canada: .\melia, wife of E. C. Wiley, of 
Weidman, and Hlanche, who lives at home. 



522 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

H. L. ROBERTS. 

Standing out prominently among the leading farmers of Coldwater town- 
ship is H. L. Roberts, who was born in Pennsylvania in the year 1848. Hosea 
Roberts, his father, whose birth occurred in the above state on May 5, 1826, 
moved to Isabella county, Michigan, in 1867 and homesteaded the farm of 
eighty acres in section 26, Coldwater township, which the subject now owns. 
He did not live long enough to prove up on the land, dying in 1871, follow- 
ing w hich the subject took the homestead and procured a deed for the same 
during President Cleveland's first administration, since which time the place 
has been in his name. Lucy M., wife of Hosea Roberts and mother of the 
subject, never came to tliis township, Init ended her earthly career a few years 
ago. It was at the home of Hosea Roberts that the first rehgious services in 
the township were conducted and the .first Sunday school was organized. The 
township organization was efYected under his. roof, and it was at the same 
place that the first election of officers was held. Hosea Roberts was highly 
esteemed and his untimely death so soon after moving to this county, was 
greatly deplored by his neighbors and friends. 

H. L. Roberts came to Isabella county with his father in 1867 and since 
that time has been an honored resident of the township in which he now re- 
sides. He was reared to farm labor, grew up an industrious and energetic 
young man and, taking possession of the family homestead on the death of his 
father, has since developed and managed the same, besides purchasing other 
land the meanwhile, his real estate at the present time amounting to two hun- 
dred and forty acres, of which one hundred and fifty acres are in cultivation 
and highly improved. He made all of his improvements, brought the land 
to a high state of tillage and, as already indicated, is today one of the leading 
farmers of the township, also an enterprising, public spirited citizen, whii has 
done much to promote the material resources of his section of the country. 
While raising all the crops grown in this part of the state, he devotes special 
attention to hay, potatoes and beans, which he markets in large quantities every 
year, and he is also interested to some extent in li\e stock, which he finds a 
veiy profitable branch of farming. 

Mr. Roberts has been thrice married, the first time to Elizabeth Ryerson, 
whose death occurred after bearing him one child, a son, Charles, now a hotel 
keeper in Shepherd, and a man of family, his wife having formerly been Sara 
Longton, of Isabella county. The subject's second marriage was with Stella 
Wooley. who bore him children as follows : Alonzo, who married Florence 
Sniitli an<l lives in Mecosta countv, Michigan: Mina, wife of Art. Conlew of 



ISABKI.I.A CDINTV, MICHIGAN. 523 

Colclwater township; lulgar. w lio li\es at lK)mc: Lafayette, a resident of 
Mecosta connty : St)])liia, wlio is still under the parental roof, as is also Fred, 
the youngest of tlic number. Some time after the death of tlie motlier of 
these cliildren, Mr. Roberts married his present wife, Mrs. Mary Roberts (nee 
Bailey), who was born March i8, 1854, in tiie state of New York. By her 
previous marriage she had tliree children, namely : Ella, now Mrs. James 
Wagner, of Coldwater township; Charles, wiio married (lertrude .Adams and 
li\es in (iilmore townshi]). tliis county, and Kffte. wife of F. Brazington, wlio 
is also a resident of the township of (iilmore. 

Mr. Roljerts is a prominent Republican, init not a politician, although he 
aims to keep informed on the questions of the day and in touch with the 
people on all matters that concern the public welfare. He served eight con- 
secutive terms as road commissioner, aside from which he has held no office, 
neither lias he been an aspirant for any kind of public distinction. I'raternally 
he belongs to the Knights of the Maccabees, in which he has been through the 
chairs, and he is also an acti\e worker in the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows. Mrs. Roberts is also a member of the Order of Maccabees, in which 
she has held the office of the kee])er of finance. She is also identified with the 
Rebekahs and, religiously, is a communicant of the Methodist E])iscopnl 
church. 



.\MKS W ATSON. 



From far-off bonny Scotland, the land of Robert Burns and Robert 
Bruce, the land of the thistle and the heather, the land of picturescpie ancient 
castle and the rose-covered cottage, famed alike in song and story, the land 
that has produced an heroic race of men. strong in war and strong in peace 
alike — the type of men that do things, that push onward the car of ci\ilization, 
comes James Watson, a sterling citizen of Isabella county, who is eminently 
worthy of representation in this work, owing to his long life of persistent in- 
dustrv and his scrupulous honeSty. 

Mr. Watson was born in Rothshire. Scotland. March 26. 1834. and there 
he grew to maturity and received his schooling, emigrating to the dominion of 
Canada upon reaching maturity and settling in Northumberland county, being 
twenty-two years of age upon his arrival in the New World. For five or six 
years he worked in a grist mill, though his former experience had been solely 
as a farmer on his father's farm in Scotland on which he worked when lie 
became of proper age while not attending the common schools. 

\\'hile living in Canada Mr. Watson married Rosella Bush. In 1S64 he 



524 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

brought his family to Middlesex county. Ontario, and lived there six years. 
There he worked at his trade about a year, but being dissatisfied with the 
country he decided to buy a piece of wild land there. It was all timbered and 
he began clearing and improving it and he cleared about thirty acres, put up 
log buildings, fenced it and began raising genera! crops. He paid the sum of 
four hundred dollars for this land, which was as good dirt as that locality 
afforded. He remained there until the fall of 1874, when he sold out at a 
good profit. Having several children, he thought it best to buy land and give 
it to them when they grew up. He came by way of Saginaw, Michigan, to 
Isabella county and located here. His first trip to this county was made in 
1865, when he came to see the country, but it did not suit him then. He set- 
tled on one hundred and sixty acres in Isabella township, paying tweh'c hun- 
dred dollars for it. He kept that land until 1905, when he gave eighty acres 
to his three oldest sons, selling the other eighty to his other son at a low 
price, each son then having a place of his own. Then Mr. W'atson moved to 
his present place, which he at once began to improve and which now ranks 
with the best in the community. He has a very comfortable home and e.x- 
cellent outbuildings, and he has made a great success as a general farmer and 
is well and favorably known throughout the county. 

The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. James Watson: Tohn, 
a prosperous farmer in Denver township, whose sketch appears in another 
part of this work; Will is farming in Denver township; James, who is farm- 
ing in Isabella township, also has a sketch in this work ; Mary is married 
and li\es in Chicago ; Hugh, whose sketch appears herein, is farming on the 
old home place : Catherine, who married Garfield Libble, is living at the home 
of her father. 



HEXRY S. G. HOUSE. 

The subject of this sketch is essentially a self-made man, and as such 
occupies a conspicuous place among the most enterprising and successful of 
his contemporaries. He was born in Somersetshire, England, in the year 
1864 and is a son of Mr. and Mrs. George House, the latter of whom now 
lives on his fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres adjoining the farm of 
Henry of this sketch. Mrs. George House died twelve years ago. Mr. House 
was reared to agricultural pursuits, but did not begin life for himself until 
i88g, at which time he bought twenty acres of land in Isabella township 
which he cleared and otherwise improved and which he subsequently in- 
creased bv an additional twentv acres, which in due time he also reduced to 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 525 

cultivation. From the l)eginnin,ij of his career his lahors appear to liave been 
effective and prosperity attended his every effort. It was not lonj^ until he 
was enal)led to add eiglity acres to the realty already in his possession and 
still later he purchased forty acres more in the immediate vicinity, making 
him one of the largest land owners in the township as well as one of the lead- 
ing men of affairs. Mr. House from time to time disposed of his holdings, 
as indicated abo\e. until there remains l)ut twenty acres of the old farm now 
in his name though he still owns valuable lands in other parts of the state, 
including a fine fami of one hundred and forty acres in Clare county, which 
he rents, and also a valuable farm of eighty acres in Vernon township, Isabella 
county, the proceeds from which add very materially to his income. 

In tiie year iScjy Mr. House discontinued agriculture to engage in the 
farming implement business, wliich he still carries on and in which he has 
been successful beyond his most ardent expectations. He handles upon a 
very extensive scale all kinds of agricultural machinery and implements, drills 
and threshing machinery, wagons, buggies and other vehicles, and does an 
annual business considerably in excess of seven thousand dollars. In .iddition 
to his main office near Roselnish, he has branch offices in Osceola county and 
elsewhere, and his patronage, which takes a wide range, extends from Marion 
to St. Louis and is continually growing in magnitude and importance. By 
honora!)le dealing he has become widely known throughout Isabella and other 
counties of central Michigan, stands higli in l>usiness circles and is today the 
leading man in his line in the territory to which his operations are principally 
confined. He also carries all his notes, the interest on the same bringing him 
a nice income. 

Mr. House began life with no help other than native talents and willing 
hands, and the success which he has achieved and liie honorable [)lace to 
which he has attained among the leading business men of his county are due 
entirely to his own efforts. He posses.ses keen practical intelligence, mature 
judgment and discreet foresight, and while aggressive in his dealings and 
ever rcadv to take adxantage of opportunities, his relations with his customers 
ha\e always been honorable and liis reputation without a stain. 

Mr. House was married in 1891 to Mary Ellen Jasmiss. whose birth 
occurred in Coe township, Isabella county, on the 8th day of January, 1876. 
Mr. and Mrs. House are the parents of the following children: Gladys, born 
December 9, 1892: Delia, born .\ugust i. 1894: I*!lizal)ctii, born I'ehruary j, 
1899; Harry, born .\pril 8, 1903: Reuben and Roy, twins, died when fifteen 
months old: Marie, born in September. 1906, and Ruth, who died at eight 
months old. Politically, Mr. House is a Republican, but his business inter- 
ests are such as to prevent him from taking a very active part in politics. He 



526 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

keeps himself well posted, however, and abreast of the times on all matters of 
public import and on the leading questions of the day has well grounded opin- 
ions which command the respect of his fellow citizens. Mr. House, with all 
the business he has done has only been in court once as a witness. He 
lives in peace and his motto is to look after his own affairs and expects others 
to do the same. 



STEPHEN M. RAU. 



This enterprising business man is a Canadian by liirth but. as the name 
indicates, he is of German descent, his father, Fred Ran, coming from the 
fatherland a number of years ago and settling in the pro\ince of Ontario. 
About 1885 he moved to Isabella county, Michigan, and since that year has 
been living on a farm in Xottawa township. Margaret Newbecker. the sub- 
ject's mother, is a native of Ontario, where she married Mr. Rau and the 
two now reside on a forty-acre farm where they are spending the closing 
years of their lives. Stephen M. Rau was born in the month of December, 
1871, in Bruce county, Ontario, and when about seven years of age ac- 
companied his parents to Greenville, Michigan, where he received his edu- 
cational training and learned the tinner's trade. After becoming a proficient 
workman he went to Grand Rapids, where he was employed for some years 
in a tin shop, in connection with which was a hardware department, in 
which also he worked when his services as a salesman were in demand. 
After remaining in that city for a period of fifteen years, he went to Soo, 
Canada, where for one and a half years he was in business for himself, at 
the expiration of which time he came to Weidman and engaged in the gen- 
eral hardware trade, which he has since carried on with encouraging success. 

Mr. Rau began business at this point on a somewhat modest scale, but 
by patient industry, efificient management and honorable dealing, he has suc- 
ceeded in building up quite an extensive establishment, as is indicated by his 
sales which amount to something in excess of fifteen thousand dollars yearly. 
He carries a full and complete stock of hardware such as the general trade 
demands, is careful and methodical in all of his transactions and bv treating 
his customers' fairly and courteously he has gradually enlarged the area of his 
trade until it now includes the greater part of the country for a number of 
miles around the village. In connection with his hardware business he man- 
ages the local Bell Telephone Company, the central office of which is in his 
store and which, from twenty subscribers when the enterprise was established. 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 527 

five years ago. lias grown until there are now two lumcired ami litty ]jatrons, 
with prospects of many more in the near future, lie also deals some in real 
estate, in which he has (|uite a renuinerati\e business, and since locating at 
W'eidman his several lines of enterprise have resulted greatly to his financial 
advantage. In addition to three good liuildings in the town, which rent at 
fair figures, he owns an eighty-acre farm in Nottawa township, the proceeds 
from which add considerably to his yearly income. 

Mr. Rau is a member of the Catholic church at Beal City and is zealous 
in upholding and defending his religious faith, lie belongs to the Knights of 
Columbus, a fraternal society under the auspices of the church, and is also 
identified with the Knights of the ^^accabees and Modern Woodmen of 
.America, being an active and influential worker in both organizations. 

Marie C. Kubry, who became the wife of Mr. Rau in the year iS(jS. was 
born in Perth county, Ontario, on February ii. 1877. ^^^^' parents. Michael 
and Regina (Schnurr) Kubry, both natives of the above county, were horn 
December 3, 1844. and September 3, 1853. respectively. They were mar- 
ried in Ontario and for some time past ha\e been making their home with 
the subject. Mr. and .Mrs. Rau have no children. They are interested in 
the social and religious life of their town, and assist to the extent of their 
abilities all charitable and humanitarian enterprises and enjoy the friend- 
ship of the large circle of acquaintances with whom they are accustomed to 
associate. 



CLARENCE E. MOODY. 

Among the well known citizens of Holland township whose interests 
in the affairs of the community have given them character and prestige, is 
Clarence E. Moody, a gentleman of excellent repute, whose influence and 
popularity have made his name familiar in every household of the township 
in which he resides. He is a son of William H. and Rachel Moody, whose 
sketch appears elsew-here, and a younger brother of A. L. Moody, who also 
has a biographical notice in this volume. Mr. Moody was born December 
10, 1870, in Eaton county, Michigan, and spent the first nine years of his 
life on his father's farm in Benton township, attending for a couple of 
years the district school not far from his home. In 1879 he removed with 
the family to Isabella county and for .some time thereafter continued his 
studies until sufficiently advanced to pass the required e.xann'nation and secure 
a teacher's license, when he took charge of a school and devoted the two 



528 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

years ensuing to that line of work. In the meantime he also turned his 
attention to agricultural pursuits, which he has since followed with most 
gratifying success and at this time he occupies a prominent place among the 
leading farmers of Rolland township, owning one hundred and twenty acres 
of fine land, seventy of which is in cultivation and well improved. 

Mr. Moody cultivates the soil with the latest improved machinery and 
implements and may properly lie termed a scientific farmer. His work is 
judiciously conducted and in the management of his afYairs he exercises sound 
judgment and wise discretion and rarely fails to realize handsomely from his 
time and labors. 

Public spirited and intelligent, he takes an active interest in whatever 
makes for the material prosperity of his township and every enterprise or 
movement having for its object the social advancement and moral good of 
the community' finds in him an earnest advocate and liberal patron. He has 
shown himself worthy of the confidence of his fellow citizens, as is indicated 
by his frequent election to positions of honor and trust, among which were 
those of township treasurer and various school offices, and as justice of the 
peace he has proved a capable and popular dispenser of the law. For some 
years he has been an influential worker in the Masonic fraternity, including 
the Eastern Star degree, and he is also a member of the Order of Gleaners. 

On the 29th day of November, 1894, Mr. Moody was united in the 
holy bonds of matrimony with Cedonia E. Merillat, who was born in Wayne 
county, Ohio, November 10, 1872, a daughter of Paul and Lydia Merillat, 
the union being without issue. Mr. and Mrs. Moody are among the most 
highly esteemed people of the county and enjoy the confidence and good will 
of all who know them. Kind and courteous in their relations with others. 
in private life and in the atmosphere of the home, they shine with a spirit 
which is always wholesome and elevating to those who come within the range 
of their influence. 



HON. ISAAC ALGER FANCHER. 

Much has been written with regard to the self-made men of Michigan, 
yet there have been but few more striking examples than that presented 
by a careful consideration of the gentleman whose name forms the caption 
of this biographical re\-iew. a born leader of men, but, being entirely unas- 
suming, he does not court that distinction. However, the accomplishments 
of Hon. Issac Alger Fancher, attorney at Alt. Pleasant, who is too well 



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y 





HON. ISAAC A. FANCHtR 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 529 

known in Isabella and adjoining counties to need any introduction here, have 
forced him into a widespread notoriety which his modesty does not seek. 
The principal capital with which his parents endowed him was a rujjged con- 
stitution, a stout heart and a determination to succeed, which, no doubt, has 
proven a more desirable capital than would have almost any amount of money, 
unless the latter could have been accompanied with the same traits of char- 
acter. Thus, from an enxironmeut none too auspicious, he has forced him- 
self to the front and made for himself a name which is unanimously accorded 
a very proud position among the foremost citizens of the Wolverine state 
Mr. Fancher's enterprise, his force of character, his sterling integrity, his forti- 
tude amid discouragements, and his marked success in bringing to comiiletion 
large schemes of tratle. ha\e contributed very largely toward the de\elopment 
of this section of Michigan, strong in his friendship, good in the generalities of 
business, a most able advocate, unswerving in his convictions of right, his 
integritv stands as an unquestioned fact among friends, acquaintances and 
business associates. Born to lead, his experiences have made him a safe 
counselor and guide. He is independent in thought, and. when con\iction 
has been once reached, tirm and unchanging. He stands today mature in 
years, yet a strong man. and a worthy example for young men to pattern after, 
as showing what intelligence and probity may accomplish in the way of suc- 
cess in life. 

Mr. Fancher is the scion of a prominent old family of sterling worth, and 
he was born in Florida. Montgomery county. New York, on the old home- 
stead of one hundred and twenty-five acres, on September 30, 1833. He is 
the son of Jacob S. and Eunice ( Alger) Fancher, the father born at Florida, 
New York, in 1803, died at the place of his birth in 1838: the mother was 
born in Niskayuna, Saratoga county. New York. They grew to maturity in 
their native communities, were educated and married there, in fact, spent 
nearlv all their lives there. The son. Isaac .\., Ixuight a small house and lot 
at Braman's Corners for his mother on wiiich she lived for some time, then 
made her home with him and with a daughter. The following children con- 
stituted the family of these parents: Caroline: Richard died at tiie age of 
eighteen years; Lsaac .\. n\ tiiis review: Orin Schuyler: they are all deceased 
but the subject. 

Isaac .\. Fancher grew to maturity on the old homestead, and went to 
school two or three summers when a child. He was four and one-half years 
of age when his father died, leaving the family in somewhat strained circum- 
stances. Thev lived one whole year with no wheat flour in the house, sub- 
sisting on barlev flour. After the father's death the boys hired a man for 

(34) 



530 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

seven vears wlm finally married their sister. Isaac A. knew the meaning of 
hard work very early in life, assisting with the general work on the farm 
when hut a mere lad. When eleven years of age he did all the fall plowing on 
one hundred and twenty-five acres. Until he was about fourteen years old he 
attended school during the winter months. His sister lived near a better 
school on the Western turnpike and when he was sixteen years old he attended 
that school, boarding with his sister for three months, being compelled at the 
end of that time to go home and work on the farm. He continued to work on 
the home place until he was nineteen years of age. then went to Princeton 
Academy three months, returning to the farm during the summer, and the fol- 
lowing fall returned to the academy for five months, then farmed all summer ; 
in the fall he went to Amsterdam Academy for nine months, taking a general 
course. The next summer he left the farm and started for Wisconsin in 
September, hiring out at the town of Delton. He also taught school there and 
traveled during the summer. He then taught two more years, traveling dur- 
ing the summer months, covering the state of Minnesota during the second 
summer, also Missouri and Iowa. He traveled for the purpose of locating 
land for other parties. He had long desired to take up the study of law, and 
he accordingly entered the law office, at Delton, Wisconsin, of Jonathan Bow- 
man, remaining in the same one year, then went to a law school at Albany, 
New York, for one school year, then returned to Wisconsin and located at 
Kilbourn City, opening an office alone and remained there until the spring of 
1862. He had a very satisfactory start in his profession, but on the last men- 
tioned year he and three companions started across the plains, making the 
long and somewhat hazardous trip to Nevada. They went over to Snake 
river, finding upon their arrival there about six hundred wagons that had 
failed in their attempt to cross the mountains, so Mr. Fancher and his party 
turned southward, went through Nevada into the Humboldt mountains, silver 
having been discovered there just the year previous. They prospected in those 
mountains about a month and a half, but were unsuccessful, but they located 
claims. Mr. Fancher took the mules of the party into California that winter 
and remained there about a month. He fell ill with Panama fever and was 
sick for several weeks ; then, after making further arrangements regarding 
the mules, he went to San Francisco where he remained ten days, then started 
home by way of the Isthmus of Panama, coming to New York by ship, the 
trip from the Isthmus requiring ten days. He had the same fe\er in New 
York that attacked him in California. He came home and was sick seven 
weeks. After recovering, he went to Wisconsin where he remained a few 
months, then came to Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. He built a little place and 
went back home to settle up his business and get his family, whom he loaded 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 53I 

in a two-liorse wagdii and ivade the retnrn trip by way of Milwaukee. Chi- 
cago, Niles and other principal cities, the trip requiring about three weeks. 
Tliey moved into tiie house he liad built here. 

Mr. Fancher was married on June 6, i860, to Althea Preston, at Java, 
Wyoming county, Xew ^'l)rk. This was after he left the law school. They 
met in Dclton, Wisconsin, where she had come when a girl, and during his 
western trip she returned tn her parents in New York. To this unimi was 
born Preston S. Fancher, who is at present making his home in Detroit, and 
is running a mill near Howell, Michigan; Bessie R. married Prof. Tambling, 
director of athletics at the Central Xormal School at Mt. Pleasant ; Blanche 
died in 1873. 

Mr. Fancher was admitted to the bar at Allianw Xew York, and later 
at Piaraboo, Wisconsin, and in Mt. Pleasant, in January. 1864. He was later 
admitted to the United States courts (circuit and district) in Detroit, and still 
later in Grand Rapids. Soon after coming to Mt. Pleasant he was made deputy 
register of deeds. He did considerable practice considering the fact that there 
was but little for lawyers to do in this locality at that early day. The follow- 
ing \car he took u]) survexing and running out roads. The ne.xt year he was 
appointed deputy state swamp land road commissioner. He spent a large part 
of his time during the summers of 1865, 1866 and 1867 in locating state roads, 
having located over two hundred miles of roads and superintended the build- 
ing of one hundred miles nn^re. Most of the three summers spent in sur\-ey- 
ing roads was in Isabella and Gratiot counties, also surrounding counties. He 
was then employed as register of deeds and he practiced law at the same time. 
About 1865 he built a store, two .stories high, at about the corner of what is 
now Main and Broadway in Mt. Pleasant. This store and thirteen other 
buildings were all l)urne<l in 1875. in fact about all the business section of the 
town was swept away. In 1877 he built the Fancher block, at nearly the same 
place on which his first store building stood. He now maintains his office in 
this building. When he came here he bought three lots in the heart of Mt. 
Pleasant. Two years later he traded eighty acres of his land for eighty acres 
in Union township: be traded his eighty in Union township for three lots on 
what is now Broadway, giving two hundred dollars as a cash difference. The 
lots were sixty-si.x by one hundred and thirty feet. He was instrumental in the 
upbuilding of the city, and especially in the erection of several churches. He 
and two other men .secured fifteen thousand dollars toward building the Cole- 
man branch of the Pere Mar(|uette railroad, which was built at a later date. 
Mr. Fancher was vice-president and one of the directors of this road. Prior 
to that time he went to St. Johns. Michigan, for the purpose of meeting her 



532 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

citizens and organizing the people of the county for the purpose of building a 
railroad, known as the Lansing, St. Johns & Mackinaw railroad. He raised 
in the towns along the proposed route a bonus amounting to the sum of four 
hundred thousand dollars, to be used in the building of this line. Just as they 
commenced building the road, the supreme court decided that the bonds were 
unconstitutional. After this failure they organized a road to run from 
Owosso, Ithaca, Alma and Mt. Pleasant. It was graded as far as Ithaca and 
some graded even as far as Alma, the road being surveyed and located by way 
of Shepherd to Mt. Pleasant. Then the Michigan Central, which had been 
relied upon to furnish bonds, failed to make good and that scheme had to be 
abandoned, also. The stock of this company was later turned over to the Ann 
Arbor railroad and it was extended. Mr. Fancher was interested in the road 
most of the time it was being built. He bought forty acres of land from I. E. 
Arnold, selling the south twenty to Hapner Brothers, who built a dam. head- 
race, millrace, etc., and ran a mill awhile, then bought them out and ran the 
mill, sold one-half interest and the privilege to operate the concern to the 
Harris Brothers, and they built the grist mill which is still operated there. 
Mr. Fancher then sold all of his holdings in this mill and bought an entire saw 
mill, that had been built about this time. He later bought a steam saw mill 
from Owen & Clinton which they had built above the grist mill. This he ran 
until 1 88 1. He has been interested in several other industries in Mt. Pleasant. 

Mr. Fancher's first wife died in 1900, and on July 3, 1902, he was mar- 
ried to Mrs. Mattie Dodds. daughter of a West Virginia family. She was 
the mother of one child before her union with Mr. Fancher, Vivian. Isaac 
Alger, Jr., was born to Mr. and Mrs. Fancher, on September 16, 1904. 

Mr. Fancher practiced his profession with Judge Dodds for a period of 
si.x years. He has also been associated with three other Dodds boys and with 
other lawyers. At present he is associated with F. M. Burwash. In 1881 ' 
Mr. Fancher sold his mill, but retained his other property in Mt. Pleasant, and 
went to Detroit. At one time he was in partnership with S. W. Hopkins. 

Fraternally, Mr. Fancher is prominent in Masonic affairs, and politically 
he is a Republican. He ha.-, always taken an abiding interest in political and 
public affairs, and his public spirit and genuine worth being recognized early 
in his career here, he was elected to the state House of Representatives in 
iSfi". His seat was contested by a man living near Alpena. He held his seat 
only thirty days, but passed all the bills he was interested in. then deliberately 
left the chamber and went home. This occurred as a result of irregularities 
in voting. He was elected in 1873 on the issue of taxing the railroad lands, 
with just two votes in the district against him. He was in the special session 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 533 

in 1874 and was elected to the state Senate in the fall of 1875. W'liile in tlic 
Senate lie made Iiis influence felt t)n the floor and in the various councils, and 
he was instrumental in putting through the notable railroad hill of that year, 
this being a \ery hard hght. for the railroads had not been taxed before. He 
has not held any except city offices since then. He was mayor once and city 
attorney for one term. Both in an official capacity and in ])ri\ate citi;^enshii), 
he has done as much if not more for Mt. Pleasant and \icinity than any one 
man lie is now a member of the local school board, and he was on the first 
board organized here, in fact, he has been on the lx)ard a good deal of the 
time since, and he has done much to promote the cause of education here. 

As a counselor Mr. b'ancher is guarded in his ex[)ression of opinions, 
cautious in arri\ing at conclusions, wary, painstaking, and always seeking to 
ascertain the true knowledge of the cause before the administration of advice, 
or the commencement of action. He is self-possessed and cool in the trial- 
acts of the court room, not easily excited or irritated, conducting the proceed- 
ings with a fairness to all parties concerned. Mis frankness and courte.sy to 
the court and to his colleagues at the bar causes all of his professional rela- 
tions to be of a most pleasant character. His plea before a jurj' is logical, 
earnest, convincing and often truly eloquent, as are his public addresses. He 
is profoundly versed in the law and keeps abreast of modern thought and in- 
vestigation, in latest decisions and in all the intricate working of juris])rudence. 
He is a good reasoner and tactician, interprets the strategy of antagonists, and 
aims to read the inscriptions on the reverse side of the legal proposition. He 
is resolute, tenacious, strong, self-reliant, and even defiant, if necessary, when 
aroused and pushed into action. He is a pungent, keen and cogent cross- 
examiner. As an advocate he is direct, incisive, forcible and con\incing; is 
possessed of a vigorous, virile, common-sense intellect. He goes to a trial in- 
trenched in the facts and the law, and drives his facts to the court and jury, 
seemingly forgetting himself in pursuing the facts. Personally he is a gentle- 
man of unblemished reputatit^in and the strictest integrity, and his private char- 
acter and important trusts have always been above reproach. He is a wide 
reader and he has the courage of his convictions upon all subjects which he 
investigates. He is a man of the i>eople, cosmopolitan in his ideas, and in 
the best sense of the word a type of that strong American manhood, which 
commands and retains respect because of inherent merit, sound sense and cor- 
rect conduct. He has a state-wide rejiutation and is one of the leading citi- 
zens of the commonwealth, having so impressed his indiviiluality ujjon all 
clas.ses as to win their confidence and esteem and has become a strong and 
influential power in leading them to high and noble things. 



534 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

FRANCIS BONE. 

This prosperous farmer and gallant ex-soldier is a native of Ireland, 
where he was born in the month of April, 1845. When he was three years 
old. his parents immigrated to the United States and settled at Geneva. Xew 
York, removing three years later to Wayne county, Michigan, where Francis 
spent his boyhood and received his education. His father dying the mean- 
while, he chose his own guardian, under whose directions he continued until 
eighteen years of age when he tendered his services to the government by 
enlisting in Company E, Twenty-seventh Michigan Infantry. It was not long 
after entering the army until he was at the front rendering valiant service for 
his adopted country and during the three years he was in the South he took 
part in some of the most noted campaigns and battles of the Civil war. Mr. 
Bone's regiment was in the Eastern department and saw much hard service 
during the Virginia and Knoxville campaigns. In the bloody battle at 
Spottsyhania Court House he received a painful wound in the left shoulder, 
and from May 12th until the following November he was an inmate of the 
Campbell Hospital. Washington, D. C, receiving treatment for his injury. 
When sufficiently recovered he rejoined his regiment and from that time until 
the cessation of hostilities, did his duty faithfully and well and earned an hon- 
orable record as a soldier. He was honoraljly discharged at Washington. 
D. C, on Noxember 9, 1864, and returned home. 

In October, 1866, Mr. Bone came to Isabella county and spent the greater 
part of the ensuing six years in Broomfield township. He drove a team for 
some time and did any other kind of labor to which he could turn his hands 
and later worked on the Muskegon river, and for seven or eight winter seasons 
was employed in \-arious lumber camps, in the meantime assisting in the 
construction of a state road. About 1885 he homesteaded eighty acres in 
Coldwater township, which he cleared and improved in due time and on which 
he still lives, the meanwhile adding to his holdings at intervals until he now 
owns three fine farms of eighty acres each, all in a high state of cultivation 
and well improved. 

As a farmer Mr. Bone is energetic and progressive, ranking among the 
most successful men of his calling in the county, and he also stands high as 
an intelligent and public-spirited citizen. He manifests a commendable in- 
terest in e\erything that tends to advance the community along material 
lines lends his influence to all laudable measures for the general welfare, and 
in private life, as in his relations with his fellow men. his integrity has never 
been questioned nor his character impeached. He is a member of the Grand 



ISABfl.LA COUNTV. MICIIIC.AX. 535 

Ainiv (if tlie l\e|)ul)lic. Post i6, at Everett, Michigan, in whicli he lias held 
every office within the gift of the organization, besides taking a leading part 
in the general deliljerations of the body. He is also an Odd Fellow, a mem- 
ber of the Grange and his name likewise adorns the records of the Sons of 
Veterans, in all tif which he is a zealous and influential menil)er. 

Mr. Bone's wife was formerly Minerva Powell, of .\thens county. Oiiio. 
She has borne him the following children : Patrick, who married Rose Beecher 
and lives in Coldwater township: Mary, now Mrs. William X'alentine, lives 
in Osceola county, Michigan; Empson lives in Coldwater t(jwnshi[). his wife 
prior to her marriage having been Maud HufTman :' Louise is unmarried and at 
home: John is also a meml)er of the home circle, and Maud, wife of Frank 
Holmes, lives in the town of Clare, this state. 



GILBERT JOHXSOX. 

F'or a number of years the subject of this sketch has ranked among the 
leading citizens of Isabella county and in the township of his residence he 
occupies a place second in importance to none of his contemporaries. Xo 
other resident of the community has been so actively identified with its devel- 
opment and progress, and none has so indelibly impressed his personality upon 
the minds of the people or exercised so potent an inriuence in directing and 
controlling public afifairs. Gilbert Johnson, lumberman, farmer and business 
man. was Ixirn in Xew York in 1S45 and spent his early life in his native 
state. In 1870 he went to East Saginaw, Michigan, where he engaged in lum- 
bering, and during the ensuing six years did well in that city, besides acquir- 
ing considerable reputation as a discreet and highly honorable business man. 
Disposing of his interests in East Saginaw in 1876, he came to Isabella county 
and. in i)artncrshi]) with his brother and Mr. Pettibonc. |)urchased fifteen 
hundred acres of land in Coldwater township, upon which during tJic ten 
years following they cut the timber and did an extensive and \er\- lucrative 
lumber business there and elsewhere. 

At the expiration of the time indicated, Mr. Johnson discontinued lum- 
bering to engage in merchandising with his brother, the two opening a gen- 
eral grocery store at what is now Sherman City, which they conducted as, 
partners until the .subject purchased his brother's intere.st, after which he ran 
the establishment with encouraging success until 1903, when he sold his stock, 
and retired from business. He is still one of the largest owners of real estate 



536 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

in the county, his holdings in the township of Sherman and Coldwater 
amounting to over seven hundred acres, two hundred and forty of which are 
in cultivation. The improved land, which is largely devoted to the raising of 
hay, he rents to other parties and since the illness of his wife, who is now a 
confirmed in\-alid. he has been gradually winding up his business interests, 
with the object in view of permanently discontinuing all participation in active 
life. Mr. Johnson has long been prominent as a local politician and, as a 
Republican leader in Isabella county, has made his influence felt in making 
platforms and formulating and directing the policies of his part}' in this part 
of the state. He has been a delegate to several district and state conventions. 
where his judicious counsel and leadership have had weight and his judgment, 
which is frequently consulted in local affairs, has seldom been at fault. He is 
a widely known and deservedly popular citizen, prominent in all ma'ters hav- 
ing for their object the material advancement of his township and county, 
and in his immediate community no man is more highly esteemed or enjoys in 
greater degree the confidence of his neighbors and fellow citizens. He was 
formerly an active and influential member of the Masonic fraternity, but of 
recent years has taken but little part in the deliberations of the order, al- 
though manifesting its principles in his relations with others, as well as in his 
daily life and conduct. 

Mr. Johnson was united in marriage with Clara Dotson, a lady of 
marked personality and, like himself, possessing many sterling qualities of 
mind and heart. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have no children, but shortly after 
their marriage they adopted a young orphan girl whom they raised as their 
own daughter, and who is now the wife of E. Cameron, a sketch of whom ap- 
pears elsewhere in these pages. They also opened their hearts and home to 
an adopted son, Willonby Knapp, who remained with them until his twenty- 
first year, when he engaged in the drug business at Saginaw, where he is now 
the head of one of the leading establishments of the kind in the city and doing 
well. 



OREN W. JOHNSON. 

The gentleman of whom the biographer writes in this connection is 
one of the oldest citizens of Isabella county, there having been fewer than 
thirty permanent settlers here when he arrived, forty-eight vears ago. He 
has seen the country developed from a wilderness into one of the most pros- 
perous counties of the state and to the extent of his abilitv has contributed to 



ISABELLA COl-XTV. MICHIGAN. 537 

bring about conditions tbat now obtain. Oren Johnson is a native of Pennsyl- 
vania and oldest in a family of six children whose parents were Lewis and 
Elizabeth Johnson. The father was born at Pine Hill, New York, the mother 
in Crawford county. Pennsylvania, their deaths occurring in the years 1872 
and 1867 respectively. The following are the names of tlie cliildien l)orn to this 
couple: Sarah, who married Steven Humphrey, both deceased; George H. 
lives in Oakland county. Michigan; Nancy, wife of Maffot McGinis, of 
Mackinac, this state; Mahala married G. Goodman and lives in Crawford 
county, Pennsylvania; James Lewis, a resident of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; 
Oren W'.. of this review. 

Oren W. Johnson was born March j8. 1835, in Crawford county. 
Pennsylvania, and when fifteen months old was taken to Michigan, the family 
making the journey to this state principally by water and landing at Detroit. 
Leaving his wife and children in a little log hotel in that city the father 
w^ent to Oakland where he procured a yoke of oxen and. returning after an 
absence of two weeks, moved his family to the latter place. The subject 
grew to maturity in Oakland county and remained in that part of the state 
until about the year 1862, when he came to Isabella county, which has since 
been his home. 

As already indicated, there were but few settlers in the county when 
he arrived and for some years he ex[)erienced tlie usual vicissitudes incident 
to pioneer life. With the sum of three hundred and fifty-eight dollars he 
bought forty acres of land in Chippewa township, where he now lives, a 
condition of the deal being the support of the owner of the land for a period 
of years in addition to the purchase price. This provision was faithfully 
carried out. Mr. Johnson in the meantime bending his energies to the improve- 
ment of the place besides manifesting a lively interest in the settlement of his 
part of the county and the development of its resources. On .\])ril 8. 1865. 
he responded to one of the last calls for volunteers to help put down the Re- 
bellion, but the war ending within a short time, he saw no acti\e service, re- 
ceiving his discharge at Nashville. Tennessee, the same year, after which 
he returned home and resumed his labors as a tiller of the soil. 

Mr. Johnson has a fine farm in excellent condition and the improvements, 
which are first class and in gocKl condition, are among the best in the town- 
ship. The dwelling is commodious and comfortable, the large barn, forty by 
seventy feet in area and equipped with all the means devised by modern 
ingenuity- to lighten Ial>ir. compares favorably with any other structure of 
the kind in the community, the other improvements, including two large 
sheds, a wind mill, several outbuildings, fences, drainage, etc.. adding very 



5^8 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

materially to the \-alue of the farrtii which is conceded to be one of the best 
of its size in Isabella county. Mr. Johnson believes in progress and, by cul- 
tivating the soil according to modern methods, seldom fails to realize abund- 
ant returns from the time and labor expended on his fields. Being in com- 
fortable circumstances, with ample means for the future, he is no longer 
obliged to labor as diligently as in former years ; nevertheless, he dislikes to 
be idle, hence makes the most of his time, gives personal attention to his 
affairs and in the main is one of the busy men of his neighborhood, as well 
as one of the most contented. 

Mr. Johnson is Republican in politics, a Baptist in religion and a mem- 
ber of the Grand .Army of the Republic post at Mt. Pleasant. He is a devout 
Christian and a faithful worker in the local church which holds his mem- 
bership and' among his neighbors and fellow citizens he is held in high esteem 
on account of his many estimable qualities. 

Mr. Johnson was married September 27, 1868. to Sarah Staggers, a 
native of Greene county, Pennsylvania, but who for many _\ears had been 
living in Isabella county, Michigan. The union was blessed with two daugh- 
ters : Rena M.. who, in Februar}-, 1891, l>ecame the wife of Franklin B. 
Ripley, and Libbie E., who died February 19, 1890, being the older of the 
two. 



ROBERT NEELANDS. 

The gentleman whose name introduces this article is a citizen of the 
United States by adoption, being a nati\e of Peel county, Ontario, where 
he was born in the year 1833. He was reared to maturity near the place 
of his birth, received his educational training in the public schools and grew 
to manhood in close touch with nature on the farm. His early experiences 
included the usual routine of labor in the fields and on arriving at the age 
tfjjjua,ke a choice of a vocation he, selected agriculture as the one best suited 
to his tastes and inclinations. 

Mr. Neelands followed his chosen calling in the land |Of his birth until 
forty-three years of age, when he disposed of his interests there and in 1877 
came to Isabella county. Michigan, and purchased one hundred acres of 
unimproved land in section 10, Isabella township, which in due time he 
cleared and put in condition for tillage. He made all of his first im'pro\-e-. 
ments with his own hands and that, too. with a common chopping ax. and 
for several years he experienced the various \icissitu(les which usualh- at- 



ISABI-LLA COUXTV. MICHIGAN. 539 

tend settlers in a new coiintrv, to say nothing of lirirdsliips wiiicli doubtless 
would have discouraged one of less faitli and energy. By diligent applica- 
tion, however, he finally overcame such obstacles as were calculated to deter 
and dishearten and in liic course of a few years the results of his well tli- 
rected labors became apparent in tlie fine farm and substantia! inipnixenients 
which he now owns and on which lie is living a prosperous and contenteil 
life, surrounded l)y tiie many material blessings wiiich contribute to his 
comfort and ease 

Mr. Xeelands' present dwelling, a substantial and commodious brick 
edifice fully supplied with modern conxeniences, was erected in 1903 and 
the Iiarn, a forty-four by sixty-six feet in size, was built fourteen years prior 
to that date. Neither pains nor expense ha\e been spared in other improve- 
ments such as wire fencing, of which there are now three hundred and forty 
rods of the latest pattern, while the close attention given to the soil has 
greatly enhanced its productiveness, the farm at this time ranlN-ing among the 
best in Isabella township and affording a home in wliich few comforts and 
conveniences are lacking. 

Mr. Neelands is a Republican on state and national issues, but in local 
matters votes for the best c|ualified candidates irrespective of party affiliations. 
He has a firm and abiding faith in the Christian religion and for a number 
of years has been a faithful and consistent member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, in which he is now serving as class leader, iiaving formerly 
been one of the trustees. His domestic life, which was a happy one, dates 
from the year 1874, when he was united in marriage with Margaret Caesar, 
whose birth occurred in Peel county. Ontario, in 1840, the union being ter- 
minated by her death in the year 1900. Three children were l)orn to Mr. 
and Mrs. Neelands. namely: Leuella G., James E. and Ollie, ail living 
under the jjarental roof and with their father constituting a mutually happy 
and contented household. 



THOMAS A. McGregor. 

The history of Isaljella county is not an ancient one. It is the record 
of the steady growth of a community planted in the wilderness in the last 
centur)- and reaching its magnitude of today without other aids tiian those 
of a continued industr}'. After all, the history of any locality is but a record 
of tlie doings of its people. The story of the plain, common people who con- 
stitute the moral bone and sinew of the countn- should ever attract the at- 



540 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

tention and prove of interest to all true lovers of their kind. In the life 
ston,' of Thomas A. McGregor there are no striking chapters or startling in- 
cidents, it being merely the record of a life true to its highest ideals, and be- 
cause of which fact it has become a potent element in the life of the community, 
he being well and favorably known in Isabella county where he maintains a 
pleasant and attractive home and works an excellent farm. 

Mr. McGregor was born on November 3, 1859, in Ontario, Canada. 
He is the son of Robert and Isabella (Elliott) McGregor, the father born in 
Scotland, from which country he emigrated to Canada in an early day and ran 
a stage route, and there he met and married his wife. Two children were 
born to them, Thomas A., of this review, and Robert, who is living in Fen- 
ton township, Genesee county ; he married a Miss Burr. When the sub- 
ject was a child his father went into the Union army as first lieutenant of 
the Twenty-second Ohio Volunteers, and he never returned, no one knowing 
whether he was killed, lost or captured. The mother married again, her 
second husband being John F. Skyring, in Canada, and four children were 
born to them: Charles: Frank, of Lansing, Michigan: Belle and Emma; 
the first named and the two daughters all reside in the state of Washington. 
Mr. Skyring died in 1900 at Loomis. 

Thomas A. McGregor remained in his native community two years, 
then was taken to Cleveland, Ohio, where his step-father was engaged as a 
bookkeeper, and there Thomas A. attended school. From Cleveland the 
family moved to Loomis, Wise township, Isabella county, and here Mr. Sky- 
ring engaged in the mercantile business, keeping a general store, and bought 
property there. Thomas A. continued to go to school after coming here, 
the step- father maintaining his store five years. The countr\' was then wild; 
there were no roads and not many houses dotted the almost interminable 
expanse of woods, and there was but one mill for miles around. From 
there Mr. McGregor went to Fenton township, Genesee county, and worked 
on a farm for seven years. When twenty-one years of age he went to South 
Dakota where he remained one summer working at farm work, then re- 
turned to Loomis, Michigan, for one year, working on the Pere Marquette 
railroad. 

On July 28, 1882, Mr. McGregor was married, while living in Loomis. 
to Lucinda Fish, daughter of David and Prudence (Havens) Fish. She was 
born on April 3, 1859, in Ontario, Canada, and moved to Isabella county 
with her parents and here met Mr. McGregor, in Loomis. One child was 
born to them, a daughter who died in infancy. 

After his marriage Mr. McGregor moved to Fenton township. Genesee 



ISABELLA COrNTV. MICHIGAN. 34 1 

county, wliere he rented and worked a farm for tliree years, being fairly 
successful and laid by a competency. He then moved to Loomis and worked 
on the Pere Marquette railroad for a year, as a member of the section gang 
He moved onto his present place of sixty-five acres in 1886. buying the same 
from William Brown of Mt. Pleasant. Mr. McGregor cleared this farm 
and it is all now under cultivation. He has placed substantial and excellent 
improvements on it, including a barn thirty-si.x by eighty-six feet, and a house 
twenty-five by thirty-two feet, the latter of cobble stones, in iqot). It is 
a most attractive dwelling, beautiful in every appointment and in the midst 
of nice surroundings. His cottage is one of the most substantial and de- 
sirable homes in the vicinity. He formerly had a frame dwelling. He 
also has one of the best dug wells in the community. 

He is a member of the Grange, and politically he is a Democrat. He 
was a highway commissioner for seven years, and township clerk for three 
years, also sened as justice of the peace for three years. He has always 
been much interested in school work and for nine years has been inoderator 
of his school district. Was re-elected township clerk in 191 1. Is also in- 
terested in the Farmers' telephone line, helping build sixteen miles of tele- 
phone line connected with the Michigan .State Company at Ro.sebush. In 
all these positions he discharged his duties in a most worthy manner and 
to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. He is a member and liberal sup- 
porter of the Methodist Episcopal church in Denver township. 



THOM.VS WOOD. 



Among the well known citizens and successful farmers of Gilmore town- 
ship, Isaljella county, is Thomas \\'ood, who has lived to witness great changes 
since coming here. Towns and villages have sprung up and fertile farms 
have been developed from the wilderness and the swamp, and marked progress 
has been made along educational, social and moral lines. W^hat has been 
accomplished for the substantial benefit and material improvement of the 
county has been of much interest to Mr. Wood, and the active co-o]>eration 
which he has given to measures for the general good is worthy of notice 
in the reckoning of what has been accomplished here. For he has always 
stood ready to do his full share in general development, and his life has 
been such as to command the respect of his fellow citizens, honest and 
ever busv. 



54- ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

Mr. Wood is a descendant of a sterling old Pennsylvania family, he 
himself having been born in the old Keystone state, the date of his advent 
being recorded as November 17, i860, and the place as Greene county. He 
is the son of Jesse H. and ]\Iartha (Leonard) Wood, the father born in 
Pennsylvania in December. 1838, and the mother in that state in 1842. They 
were the parents of the following children : Thomas, of this review : Walter 
died March 6. 1910; Hiram lives in Gilmore township, this county. Hannah, 
Edward, and Henry are also living in Gilmore township, Isabella county ; 
Effie lives in Shepherd. Michigan; Jesse lives in California. 

Thomas Wood was brought by his parents from Greene county, Penn- 
sylvania, to Coe township. Isabella county. Michigan, when he was five years 
of age. remaining there about four years. Then his father moved to sec- 
tion 34, Gilmore township, and homesteaded a farm of eighty acres, which 
his son, Thomas, helped clear and improve, remaining there until he was 
twenty-one years of age. He then bought his present place of eighty acres, 
for which he paid six hundred and forty dollars. It was first growth timber 
land and had no buildings cr other inip(^rtant improvements on it. but Mr. 
Wood was always a hard worker and he soon had the place under a high state 
of improvement, which he has continued to develop, and it is now well worth 
the sum of eight thousand dollars. He cleared the entire tract and built 
a substantial and cozy home, two stories, sixteen by twenty-six feet, and lived 
there until three years ago. He now owns one hundred and fifty acres, one 
hundred and ten acres in one tract and forty acres nearby ; besides his 
eighty acres, which is under a high state of cultivation, the land is mostly 
in pasture and not cleared to a great extent. His eighty acres are well 
drained, having on it seven hundred yards of tile, and other tile is being 
laid. He makes cement tile for others. He erected a substantial cement 
block house in 1907. in two parts, each sixteen by twenty-six feet, one and 
one-half stories, and has a splendid cellar. In 1906 he built a convenient 
and substantial barn, forty-four by sixty-four feet, with a basement. His 
place is well fenced and improved in an up-to-date manner. He has been 
very successful as a farmer, having started in with nothing, and he has made 
what he has unaided. He has a small orchard of fine fruit, and his entire 
place presents a splendid appearance, showing that a gentleman of excellent 
tastes and good judgment has its management in hand. He is a general 
farmer and stock raiser. He is familiar with pioneer life in all of its trials 
and vicissitudes, having worked in the woods ten or tweh-e winters upon 
coming to this county. 

PolitiCfilly Mr. Wood is a Republican. Although he has never sought 



iSAni-;i.LA corxTV. m hi new. 543 

offices and cares little for them, he has held a iiumher of niin.ir local ottices, 
but always in a very faithful manner. He is inlluential in the ciininninity 
and has a host of friends wherever he is known. 

Mr. Wood Was married May 9, 1887, to Mary E. Mount, daughter of 
Benjamin P. and Adeline' (Ki<ig) Mount. Her father was a pioneer of this 
county, having been clerk of Isabella county and several times supervisor of 
Gilmore township; he is still living. Mrs. Wood was born June 17, 1863, 
and was one of a family of nine children, four of whom are deceased. Two 
sons have been born of this marriage: Walter E., born March 3, 1888, 
and .Mvin C, I)oni October 18. 1892, both still at home helping on the farm. 



CECIL W. ALLEX. 



Prominent among the .successful farmers and influential citizens of Isa- 
bella county is C. W. Allen, of Coldwater township, a representative of an 
old and esteemed family that came to Michigan in 1854, and for some years 
Svas identified with the section of country in which the subject lives. Philip 
P. Allen, father of the subject, was born April 21, 1829, in Delaware county. 
New York, married, July 22. 1850, Man- Sawtelle. who bore him two chil- 
dren : George H., whose .sketch appears elsewhere, and Ozema, who lives 
in California. Some time after the death of this wife, Mr. .Allen contracted 
a marriage with Emma Bellows, who was born in Marsiiall. Michigan. Jan- 
uary 25, 1846. This union was blessed with four ciiildren. namely: Claude 
W., born February 5, 1864. married Addie Tombs and lives in Missaukee 
county; Cecil W., of this review, who was born October i. 1871, in Gratiot 
county, this state; Tessie, born June 2, 1877, is now the wife of Thomas 
Copping, of Bay Shore. Charlevoix county, and Rexford, of Coldwater town- 
ship, wiio married Xellic Fackler, and is by occupation a farmer. Philip P. 
Allen was a man of intelligence and influence and during his residence in 
Isabella county, of which he became a citizen in 1884, took an active part 
in public afifairs. In politics he was a local leader of the Democratic partv 
and in religion belonged with his wife to the church of the Seventh-dav 
Adventists. He was a farmer all his life and died December 15, 1908. re- 
spected by the entire community. 

Cecil W. Allen spent his childhood and youth on his father's farm in 
Gratiot county, received a fair education in the public schools and when about 
fourteen years old moved with his parents to Isabella county, since which 



544 ■ ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

time liis life has been closely identified with the history of the township of 
which he is now an honored resident. On attaining his majority he began 
life for himself as a tiller of the soil, which vocation he has" gince followed 
with success and financial profit, being now classed with the leading citizens 
and agriculturists and stock raisers of his township, owning a fine farm of 
one hundred acres on which are some of the best improvements in the com- 
munity. His land, which is well drained by tiling, is admirably adapted 
to farming and stock raising, and it is to the latter that Mr. Allen has 
devoted the greater part of his attention during the past four years. 

Carrie White, to whom Mr. Allen was united in marriage in 1892, was 
born in Rocliester, Xew York, on the 5th day of November, 1869. Her 
father, Edward White, also a native of that state, was born October 12, 
1826, and married in his young manhood Jennie E. Quick, who was born 
June 2y, 1846, in Michigan. About 1889 these parents moved from Cal- 
houn county to the county of Isabella and located in Coldwater township, 
wliere they spent the remainder of their lives, Mrs. White dying November 
18, 1893, her husband on the 2d day of June, 1910. Mr. White was a 
farmer and a public spirited and exemplary citizen. In early life he was 
active in his supix)rt of the Democratic party, later became a Greenbacker 
and a few }ears previous to his death accepted the principles of Socialism. 
He was born and brought up under the gentle and wholesome influence of 
the Society of Friends and throughout life exemplified in his daily walk 
and conversation the principles which govern this excellent religious sect. 
He was prominent in the affairs of his township and county, assisted in 
furthering all charitable and humanitarian projects and his influence was ever 
on the right side of moral issues and reforms. 

Mr. and Mrs. Allen have three children : Vera, born September 5, 
1892; Ozema, November 24, 1901, and Donald, whose birth occurred on the 
2d day of October, 1907. 



HARRY M. WETZEL. 

Among the successful business men of the thrixing town of Shepherd, 
Harry M. Wetzel holds a deservedly conspicuous place and as a man and 
citizen he is no less prominent and influential, as is indicated by the interest 
he manifests in the public welfare at large. Mr. Wetzel is a native of Stark 
county, Ohio, and the second of three children whose parents were Lewis 
F. and Ellen (Breninger) Wetzel, the father born May 20, 1848, in Stark 



ISABELLA COLNTV. MUHICAX. 545 

county, Ohio, and tlie mother on tlie i/tli day oi April, 185-'. in Tuscarawas 
county. Ohio. Myrtle V. Wetzel, the oldest child of this couple, lives on 
the family homestead in Coe township; Grace G., the third in order of birtli 
and. like her sister, unmarried, lives at the same place also, and Harry M., 
who is the second of the family, first saw the light of day on April 7, 1879. 
Lewis F. A\'etzel moved to Isal)ella county in 1887 and settled on the farm 
in Coe township where he spent the remainder of his life, dying April 19. 
1904, his wife preceding him to the grave in the month of September. 1901. 

Harry M. Wetzel sjjent liis early life amid tiie active duties of the 
farm and at tiie proper age entered the public schools of Coe township, 
where he made rapid advancement in his studies, the training thus secured 
being afterwards supplemented by a course in tlie normal school at Mt. 
Pleasant, from which he was graduated with an honoral^lc record in 1902. 
With a mind well disciplined bv scholastic training, he turned his attention 
to educational work and during the ensuing two years taught school in the 
countr}'. following whicii he was elected principal of the high school of 
Maple Rapids. After filling the latter position three years and earning a 
creditable reputation as a capable and painstaking instructor, he became prin- 
cipal of the schools of Siie])herd. his pedagogical experience terminating 
with his second year in that town. Air. Wetzel achieved mucii more than 
local repute as an educator and had he seen fit to make teaching his life work 
it is the opinion of many that he would soon have forged to the front among 
the educators of the state. Not being satisfied with tlie insufficient salary 
whicli tlie ])rofession commanded, however, he refused further positions, to 
engage in a more satisfactory and remunerative calling: accordingly, after 
his marriage in the year 1909, he formed a partnership with H. E. Walton 
in the hardware business, which line of trade he has since conducted with 
most encouraging success in the town of Shepherd. 

Mr. Wetzel's brief career in the mercantile business has been eminently 
creditable and satisfactory and the establishment with which he is connected 
has grown into one of the largest and best conducted hardware houses in 
the count\-, the stock being full and complete and requiring the two commo- 
dious rooms now used to be handled to advantage. He gives close attention 
to every detail of tlie business, foresees with remarkable accuracy the future 
outcome of present action, hence makes his purchases with care and judg- 
ment and thus far has realized handsomely from the enterprise to which 
his time and attention are being devoted. 

Mr. Wetzel's marriage, to which reference is made in the preceding 
paragraph, was solemnized with Mildred Murtlia, whose birth occurred in 
<35) 



546 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

this county on the i6th of May, 1884, her parents being Stephen and 
Catherine Murtha, of whom a sketch appears elsewhere in these pages. In 
social life as well as in his business relations Mr. Wetzel, although a young 
man, wields a strong influence and his position as one of the leading public 
spirited citizens of the community is recognized by all and duly appreciated. 
His integrity is unswening and his character above reproach, these and other 
equally admirable attributes constituting important assets in a personality 
which is destined to fill a still larger place in business circles and the world 
of affairs as the years come and go. In his fraternal relations he is a Mason, 
belonging to Lodge No. 288 at Siiepherd to the interests and welfare of 
which he gives no little time and attention. 



ALFRED G. HOUSE. 

The subject of this review is a son of George and Elizabeth (Chancellor) 
House and dates his birth from the year 1855, having first seen the light of 
day in Somersetshire, England, where his parents were also born and reared. 
When seven years of age he was brought to America and during the si.x 
years ensuing lived in Canada, removing with the family at the expiration 
of that period to Monroe county, Michigan, where he remained until his 
parents transferred their residence to the county of Isabella in 1879. In 
the meantime he attended school as opportunities afforded and from the time 
he was old enough labored in the woods and fields and while still a mere 
youth became familiar with all kinds of rugged labor on the farm. On 
coming to Isabella county he helped clear and develop the home place in 
Isabella township, later engaging in the pursuit of agriculture upon his own 
responsibility. In 1885 he was united in marriage with Fidelia Yager, whose 
birth occurred August 3, 1866. Henry and Belmira (Manning) Yager, the 
parents of Mrs. House, were born in the years 1828 and 1819, respectively, 
the latter dying in 1892, the former, who is still living, making his home in 
Isabella township. 

Mr. House's first purchase of real estate consisted of forty acres of 
woodland in section 18, of the above township, and in due time he cleared 
and reduced it to cultivation, besides adding a number of improvements from 
time to time. He subsequently added to his original purchase until he now 
owns one himdred and sixty acres of fine land in one of the most produc- 
tive agricultural districts of the county, all but fifteen acres in cultivation 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 547 

and iiiiprc)\ed with excellent buildinijs and line wire fencing of the most 
ai)i)r(ned kind, llis residence, a substantial brick edifice, containing all 
the modern improvements and conveniences with which such structures are 
usually ecjuipped, was erected in 1903 and is among the most comfortable 
and attractive homes in the township; the barn, built five years previous, is 
a large and commodious structure, being in dimensions forty-four l)y sixty 
feet, with stone basement, and admirably adapted to such uses as it is in- 
tended to subserve. 

Like most enterprising and progressive tillers of the soil. .Mr. Ibai-c 
raises considerable live stock of the finer breeds, including blooded horses, 
of which he now has eight head, a flock of fifty-six sheep, and his cattle, 
which average from eighteen to twenty-five head, are among the finest animals 
of the kind in the neighborhood and represent no small amount of capital. 
Fraternally, Mr. House is a member of the Grange and as such takes an 
active interest not only in the social features of the order, but in all means 
for the advancement of farming, being a careful student of agricultural 
science and a believer in the honor of his calling. In his political affiliations 
he is a Republican, but has no ambition to gratify in the direction of ofiice 
seeking, being content with the plain, simple life of an American citizen, 
which in point of dignity he considers second to no other vocation or pro- 
fession. 

Mr. and Mrs. House are the parents of three children, whose names are 
as follows: Elmer, born February 29, 1896; Oliver, born October 20, 1898, 
and Hazel, who was born on July 16, 1902. 



LOUIS LAPEARL. 



Among the large land owners and successful farmers of Isal)ella county 
the subject of this sketch occupies a deservedly conspicuous place. In con- 
nection with agriculture he carries on ijuite a large business Iniying timber 
and manufacturing it into lumber, buys and sells wood upon ([uite an ex- 
tensive scale, besides loaning money and dealing in real estate. Louis Lajjcarl 
Ijelongs to the large Canadian ontingent which constitutes such an important 
part of the population of Michigan, having been born in Ontario, on June 
18, iSt". He spent his boyhood and received his education in his native 
county and remained there until eighteen years old. when he came to Michigan 
and during the ensuing six years worked as a farm hand near Farmington, in 



548 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

the county of Oakland. In December, 1886, he came to Isabella county 
and purchased forty acres of land in section 17, Nottawa township, which 
he at once proceeded to clear and reduce to cultivation, a task of no little 
magnitude, the land being heavily wooded and interspersed with a dense 
undergrowth. With his characteristic industry and energy, however, he was 
not long in fitting the greater part of the tract for tillage and a little later 
he added to his original purchase by buying other land in the vicinity. 

Without following in detail Mr. Lapearl's struggles and successes, suffice 
it to say that in due time his efforts were abundantly rewarded, as he soon 
became one of the leading farmers of his township, besides purchasing at 
intervals additional land there and in other parts of the county. He made 
splendid improvements in the way of buildings, fences, etc., brought his place 
to a high state of cultivation and everything to which he turned his hand ap- 
peared to prosper. The reputation which he early earned of being one of the 
most progressive and successful agriculturists of Isabella county he still sus- 
tains, and he is also among its most enterprising and well-to-do men of affairs. 
By well drected industry and judicious management he has accumulated suffi- 
cient of material wealth to make him independent, owning at the present 
time seven hundred and eighty acres of excellent land in the townships of 
Sherman and Nottawa, three hundred of which are in cultivation and highly 
improved and, as already indicated, constituting one of the finest and most 
valuable farms in the county. As stated in a preceding paragraph, his entire 
time is not given to agriculture, as he devotes considerable attention to the 
buying and selling of timber, lumber and wood, a line of business which 
has been very profitable and which is steadily growing in magnitude and 
importance. In addition to his farming and timber interests, he deals quite 
extensi\-ely in real estate, in which he has acquired a large and lucrative 
patronage, and also does a veiy satisfactory business loaning money. 

Mr. Lapearl is a man of sound practical sense, discreet tact, and his 
judgment is such that he is seldom if ever at fault in forecasting the future 
outcome of present plans and actions. His financial success has made him 
one of the solid men of his township and county, at the same time he mani- 
fests commendable interest in public affairs and is ever ready to co-operate 
with his fellow citizens in promoting the general welfare of the community. 
Mr. Lapearl was happily married to Anna Wixom, who was born August 
31, i860, in Oakland county, Michigan, where her parents. John R. and 
Rhoda CJacewav) Wixom, had long resided. Her father, whose birth oc- 
curred on the 19th of September, 1828. was the second white child born in 
Farmington township of the above county, he was a farmer by occupation 



ISABKI.I.A COUNTY, M ICII ICAX. 549 

and an excellent and praiseuortliv citizen and liis tlcath, mi the 23d of De- 
cember. 1906. was greatly deplored by all who knew him. Mrs. Rhoda 
W'ixom was born Febrnary 3, 1833. in l-^lmira. New ^■ork. and departed 
this life on July 30. 1903. 

Mr. and Mrs. Lapearl have three children whose names are as follows: 
Fred, born March 18, 1882, married Miss Minnie Tracey and lives on the 
family homestead which he now manages. Bertha, whose birth occurred 
on the 17th day of August. 1883. is the wife of Charles Bamber and lives 
in Detroit; Violet C, the youngest of the family, was Ixmi May 10. 1893, 
and departed this life May 29, 1901. Jo.seph Lapearl, the subject's father, 
was born in Canada in the year 1820 and when a young man married 
Josephine Leger. also a native of that country. He was called to his eternal 
rest in 1895, being survived by his wife who is still living. 



JASOX II. STRUBLE. 

The gentleman whose name introduces this sketch is a native of Ohio, 
born in the town of Primrose. Williams county, on July 18, 1862, being a 
son of Henry and Eliza (Wickham) Struble. the former born in Knox 
(now Morrow) county, that state. November 18. 1824. the latter in Eng- 
land on the 30th day of June. 1834. Henr\- Struble came to Michigan 
June 2, 1868, and engaged in general merchandising at Salt River, where 
he carried on a good business for about five years, removing at the expira- 
tion of that time to a farm in Coe township, where he li\ed in 
honorable retirement until his death, which occurred February 7. 191 1. He 
was twice married, the first time in 1848 to Rebecca Murphy, who was born 
in 1830, and died in 1854, after bearing her husband two children, a daughter. 
Zilla Ann, who was born September 10. 1850, in Fulton county. Ohio, and 
who was married November 19. 1868, to Julius Conklin. of Coe townshi]); 
Nathaniel \V.. the second in order of birth, first saw the light of day in 
the same county and state on the 22d day of Septemlier. 1852. He married 
Nettie T. Allen January 18, 1880, and at this time lives in the village of 
Shepherd. 

Eliza Wickham, the second wife of Henry Struble, to whom he was 
married January 14, 1858, bore him four children and departed this life 
in the village of Shepherd August 26, 1906, the following being the names 
of her offspring: Sarah M.. born November 14. 1858, married George 



.")."1 



so ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



IMurtha Jul}' i, 1876, and resides in Mt. Pleasant; Jason H., the subject 
of this sketch, is the second of the number; Albert G., born in Ohio, 
October i. 1864, married Jennie Morris, and lives in the village of Shep- 
herd; Kenneth E. (see sketch on another page of this work) was born in 
West Unity, Ohio. November 17. 1867, and at the present time lives in 
Isabella county, throughout which he has become widely and favorably known. 
Jason H. Struble was six years old when his father moved to Isabella 
county and since June. 1868. his life has been very closely identified with 
the growth and development of the township of which he is now an hon- 
ored resident. He received his educational training in the schools of Coe 
township, but discontinued his studies at the age of fourteen and began work 
as a salesman in a general store. On attaining his majority he began busi- 
ness for himself in partnership with his brother, X. W. Struble, the firm 
thus constituted lasting until 1892. when he purchased the latter"s interest 
and became sole proprietor of one of the largest and best arranged mer- 
cantile establishments in the village of Shepherd, to which place the stock 
was transferred in 1887 from the old town known as Salt River. This move 
was made on account of the railway advantages and other facilities, and 
since the subject took charge of the store the business has grown rapidly 
in volume and importance until he now carries the largest and best stock 
of goods in the town, including all kinds of dry goods, lx)ots, shoes, notions, 
clothing, furnishing goods, etc.. indeed everything that can be found in a 
first class general mercantile establishment for which there is any demand. 
By close attention to business and by consulting the wishes of his customers 
he has built up an extensive and far-reaching patronage and, as already in- 
dicated, he now occupies a conspicuous place among the leading merchants 
of the county and enjoys much more than local repute in the commercial 
circles of his part of the state. In connection with his mercantile enterprise 
he has been identified with the financial interests of his town since 1908, at 
which time he purchased stock in the Central State Savings Bank of Shep- 
herd, and was made vice-president of the institution, which position he still 
holds, being also a member of the board of directors. Possessing business 
ability of a high order, he has contributed greatly to the success of the bank 
and helped make it one of the most popular institutions of the kind in the 
county, its continued advancement and the important place it holds in public 
favor being largely attributed to his foresight and management. He is also 
interested in the Winn Banking Company at the town of Winn, this state, 
being one of the leading stockholders and an influential factor in promoting 
the success which the institution now enjoys. 



ISAIUil.I.A CCn'NTV. MICIIIGAX. 55I 

Mr. Stnilile is identified with the Masonic fraternity and lias filled all 
the ofiices within tiie gift of Salt River Lodge No. 288, to which he belongs. 
He is also an active worker in the Knights of Maccabees Tent at Shepherd, 
which from time to time has honored him with important official positions, 
and in politics he supports the principles of the Republican party. 

Mr. Struble is a kind and afifable gentleman of pleasing address and at- 
tractive personality, and it is not too much to say that no man in the com- 
munity enjoys a larger measure of public confidence or stands higher in the 
esteem of the populace. His integrity is inflexible, his character above re- 
proach and his relations with his fellow men have always been characterized 
by a high sense of honor, which ciualities, with others equally commendable, 
have made him quite popular and earned for him an intlucntial place among 
the leading citizens of his day and generation in the place of his residence. 

Mr. Struble, on January 2, 1888. contracte<i a matrimonial alliance with 
Lola L. L'pton, who was born September 6, 1866. in Coe townslii]), Lsabella 
county, where her ])arents, J. J. and Wealthy I'pton. now residing at Shep- 
herd, settled a number of years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Struble ha\e a beautiful 
and attractive home in the town and move in the l)est circles of the com- 
munity, their marriage being without issue. 



WILLLVM L. DIBBLE. 

This representative business man and popular citizen is a native of Liv- 
ingston county, Michigan, where he was born on the 12th day of January. 
1854. At the tender age of five years death deprived him of a father's 
care and guidance and four years later his mother remarried, after which 
event he remained at home until his thirteenth year, when he began earn- 
ing his own livelihood as a farm laborer. During the nine years ensuing, 
he lived with H. S. Ridmund, to whom he is indebted for his training in 
the upright, manly course which he has e\er pursued. At the expiration 
of the period indicated he chose for himself a wife and helpmeet in the ])erson 
of Estella Webster, an excellent young lady to whom he was united in the 
holy bonds of wedlock in the year 1880. In 1S89 he moved to Shepherd, 
where he has since resided, spending the following ten years as a drayman, 
which business be found fairly successful and enabled him to lay aside some 
means with the object in view of engaging in a more remunerative enter- 
prise. Accordingly, in 1896 he effected a co-partnership in the hay and grain 



552 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

business witli H. D. Bent, the firm thus estabhshed building up a large and 
lucrative trade in the above lines, in addition to which Mr. Dibble also began 
dealing quite extensively in coal and ice, which in due time returned him a 
handsome income and won for him a conspicuous place among the leading 
business men of the town. 

The firm of Dibble & Bent has continued to the present time with a very 
successful patronage and the subject still owns the large coal yard which he 
formerly operated in connection with the ice business, but which for some 
time past he has rented to other parties. Additional to the business to which 
his attention is specially directed, he is identified with various other enter- 
prises of a private and public nature, among the latter being the Commercial 
State Bank of Shepherd, in which he is a large stockholder, also a member 
of the board of directors, and during the past six years he has filled the re- 
sponsible position of town marshal. As a guardian of the peace he is watch- 
ful and alert, fearless in checking all attempts at lawlessness, and so ably 
and impartially has he discharged the duties of his office that his name has 
becomes a terror to evil-doers and the criminal classes, who, some years ago so 
numerous, now find it convenient to give the town a wide berth. He also 
served as treasurer of Coe township, and while holding this position proved 
a judicious custodian of one of the people's important trusts, performing 
all of his official functions with credit to himself and to the satisfaction 
of the public and earning a record second to that of none of his predecessors. 

Mr. Dibble is a Democrat and while interested in the success of his 
party and ready to make any reasonable sacrifice in behalf of its principles 
and candidates, he is by no means narrow or prejudiced in his views, accord- 
ing everyone the same right of opinion which he claims for himself. In 
party councils his judgment is always respected and his advice carries weight, 
and in the conventions, which he invariably attends as a delegate, his in- 
fluence has had much to do in drafting resolutions, making platforms anfl 
fornuilating and directing policies. Mr. Dibble is a man of broad humani- 
tarian principles and nothing appeals to him with greater force or is as sure 
of enlisting his sympathy and generosity as a tale of suffering or duress. 
He is known far and wide on account of his kindness to the sick, no night be- 
ing too dark and no weather too inclement to keep him from the bedside of 
suffering, where his genial presence at once begets confidence and his words 
of cheer seldom fail to arouse encouragement. Standing for law and order 
and believing in reducing evil to the lowest possible minimum, he aids and 
al)ets all measures for the moral advancement of the community and has ever 
tried to realize within his own personality his highest ideals of manhood and 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 553 

citizenship. Not only is he deeply interested in the material progress of his 
town and county, but all worthy measures for the intellectual, social and 
moral welfare of his fellow men arouse his interest, such as the various 
secret fraternal orders for which he has always manifested profountl regard. 
He is an acti\ e and infUiential niemlaer of Salt River Lodge Xo. 288, Free and 
Accepted Masons, Coe Lodge \o. 239, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
in which he has passed all the chairs, and to him belongs the honor of having 
been the first candidate in Hive Xo. 232, Knights of the Maccabees, in the 
town of Shepherd. 

Mr. Dibble's first wife, who bore him no children, departed this life 
in 1899, and the following year he was united in marriage with Maud Ray- 
mond, of Pleasant \'alley, Midland county, this union resulting in the birth 
of two children, Francis and Harold, aged eight and si.x years, respectively. 
In December, 1906, the death angel again entered the home of Mr. Dibble 
and removed from thence his devoted wife, leaving him a second time be- 
reaved. Animated by a strong and living faith in Him who doeth all things 
well, he bore up manfully under his sorrows, cheered by the thought of 
ultimate reunion with the loved and lost in a world where all tears shall 
be wiped away and partings be no more. 

In his religious view's Mr. Dibble is a Methodist antl as such has long 
been active in the work of the local church to which he belongs, besides 
contributing liberally to spread the gospel at home and abroad. He has 
served the church at Shepherd in various official capacities, holding at the 
present time the positions of trustee and treasurer. 



REV. ALEXANDER FRANCIS ZUGELDER. 

The beloved pastor of St. I'hilomcna's Roman Catholic church in Xottawa 
township and one of the popular priests of the diocese of Grand Ra[)ids, 
was born January 6, 1869, in Konigheim, Baden, Germany, and spent the 
early part of his life in the land of his nativity. He was primarily educated 
in the gymnasium schools of Baden, where he pursued his studies until his 
nineteenth year, when he came to the United States and during the four 
years ensuing attended St. Francis Seminary, Milwaukee, following which 
he finished his theological studies after one year in the Grand Seminary at 
Montreal. 

Father Zugelder was ordained priest at (irand Rapitls, Michigan, on 



554 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

June 29, 1893, and immediately thereafter entered upon his first pastorate 
at Cadillac where he labored with great acceptance for a period of eighteen 
months, at the expiration of which time he was transferred to Provemont, 
this state, where he ministered to the spiritual wants of a growing church 
during the ensuing four years. From the latter place he went to Beaver 
Island, where he spent six very useful years, and then came to his present 
field of labor in Isabella county, where, since 1905, he has been pastor of 
St. Philomena's church, one of the leading Catholic organizations of central 
Michigan and the largest church of any denomination in the county outside 
of Mt. Pleasant. 

When Father Zugeldei' took charge of the work in Nottawa township 
he found the parish in an embryo state and no house of worship for the con- 
gregation. He at once turned his attention to the remedying of this ill con- 
ditioned state of afTairs and by skillful leadership and able financial manage- 
ment soon succeeded in arousing his flock to an appreciation of their needs and 
to prepare them for the enterprise which he had in view. The old Ixiilding 
having been struck by lightning and Inirned the year previous to his arrival, 
he at once inaugurated a movement to erect a temple of worship more in keep- 
ing with the growth of the parish and the advancement of the community. 
In due time work on the new edifice began and being pushed forward as 
rapidly as circumstances would admit, it was not long until the present im- 
posing temple, fifty-two by one hundred and twenty-eight feet in dimensions, 
constructed entirely of the finest granite with steel ceiling and absolutely fire 
proof, was finished at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars and formally 
dedicated to the worship of Almighty God. (For a more complete account 
of this building, see history of St. Philomena's church by the pastor in an- 
other chapter of this volume.) 

Since the completion of the building, which is acknowledged to be one of 
the finest specimens of ecclesiastical architecture in the central part of the 
state, a residence for the Sisters who teach in the parochial school has also 
been erected, being, like the former, a beautiful and substantial granite edifice, 
two stories high and containing ten commodious rooms which are fully 
etjuipped with modern improvements and conveniences. In connection with his 
clerical duties, Father Zugelder has charge of the school under the auspices of 
the church, which now has an average attendance of two hundred pupils, a 
number which is constantly increasing. He is greatly beloved by his parish- 
ioners, also by the public at large, and is a most zealous worker in the cause 
of the church and as a devout and highly esteemed pastor has made his pres- 
ence and influence a power for good since taking charge of his present field. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 555 

Through liis generosity, genial disixisition. pions entluisiasni and indefatigal)Ie 
labor in behalf of his parishioners, he has won an abiding place in their affec- 
tions, besides gaining many warm friends regardless of creed, and he stands 
today a true exemplar of Christianity and the Catholic faith. Being in the 
prime of life and intluence, with the greater part of his mission yet to be ac- 
complished, it is eminently fitting to predict fur hini a long and brilliant future 
in the nohlc uurk to which his time and talents are being devoted. 



EMANUEL CROTSER. 

Conspicuous among the prosperous farmers and jiuhlic spirited men in 
the township honored by his citizenship is the well-known and highly esteemed 
gentleman whose career is briefly recorded in the following lines, .\nthony 
Crotser, the subject's father, was born in Ohio in 1817. and died in ^lichigan 
in 1865: the mother, who prior to her marriage was Rebecca Fritz and a 
nati\e of the same state as her husband, was born in 1830, and departed 
this life in Kalamazoo county, Michigan, in the year 1896. Emanuel Crot- 
ser, whose I)irth occurred in Portage county, Ohio, November 2, 1857, spent 
his early life in Kalamazoo county, where his parents settled when the sub- 
ject was cpiite young. His father dying when Emanuel was eight years old, 
the lad grew up under the fostering care of his mother and. as opportunities 
oft'ered, attended the district schools until ac<|uiring a pretty thorough knowl- 
edge of the common branches of learning. 

The subject and his mother owned a farm near Croton, in the county of 
Kalamazoo, on which he lived until attaining his majority, when he sold his 
interest in the place and later, January 3, 1880. purchased the forty acres 
in Isabella county to which lie moxed on .\ugust _'4th of the same year. 
and which he still owns. In the meantime, he chose a wife and helpmeet in 
the person of Isabella Kindy, of Medina county, Ohio, who accompanied him 
to the new home in Isal>ella county and set up their domestic establishment 
in the month and year indicated alx)ve. Mr. Crotser at once l)egaii imjirov- 
ing his land and in due time had the greater part under cultivation. Sub.se- 
quently he increased his realty by the purchase of an adjoining forty acres, 
which, under his effective labors and judicious management, has also been 
improved and made productive, the farm, which now contains eighty acres, 
ranking among the best farms of its size not only in the township, but in 
the countv. 



556 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Mr. and Mrs. Crotser have labored to good advantage in the making of 
a home and they take a pardonable pride in the result of their efforts. A 
beautiful and imposing brick dwelling, seventeen by twenty feet, upright, 
sixteen by eighteen feet in the wing, and containing eight commodious rooms, 
was erected in 1896 and is one of the most substantial and comfortable 
country residences in the county. A large barn, forty by sixty feet, was 
erected in 1893, these with the usual outbuildings, good fencing and ample 
tile di'ainage, adding much to the appearance and value of the place and 
making it a home creditable alike to the owners and to the locality in which 
it is situated. Mr. Crotser has been prosperous as a tiller of the soil and 
from the beginning until now his career presents a series of successes and 
advancements which prove him a man of progressive ideas and a master 
of his calling. In all of his efforts he has been heartily seconded iw his 
wife who has proven a helpmeet indeed and worthy to bear the name which 
she has long honored. Both are highly esteemed members of the social circles 
in which they move, and all enterprises and measures for the good of the 
community and the moral betterment of those with whom they mingle are 
sure to enlist their co-operation and support. Owing to her illness, which 
occurred while the farm was being developed, it was found necessary for 
Mrs. Crotser to seek a more healthful locality, accordingly she was moved 
to a distant locality where she remained three years, returning at the end of 
that time with bodily powers fully restored. During the period indicated Mr. 
Crotser fell considerably in arrears with his work, which with the necessary 
expenses incurred threw him somewhat behind financially, ne\-ertheless the 
end justified the means, as the continued good health of Mrs. Crotser ever 
since abundantly attests. 

Mr. Crotser was one of the first farmers in Isabella township to intro- 
duce the sugar beet into this part of the state and for a period of fifteen 
years he gave constant attention to its culture, being influential in inducing 
others to engage in this branch of farming. The industry proved quite re- 
munerative and he still devotes a portion of his land to the raising of these 
vegetables, which promise ere long to become one of the country's most im- 
portant crops. He also raises li\e stock of the better breeds, his horses, 
cattle, sheep and hogs ranking among the best in the township and yielding 
him every year a handsome profit on the capital thus invested. Politically 
he votes the Republican ticket and religiously holds to the Baptist church, to 
which his wife also belongs, both being active and influential cliurch workers 
and deeply interested in all legitimate means for the spiritual good of the 
community in which they reside. 



ISABELLA COrXTV. MICHIGAN. 557 

A number of years ago, when there was no Baptist organization in 
Isabella township, Mr. and Mrs. Crotser united with the Presbyterian so- 
ciety which met for worship in the government .schoolhouse alx:)Ut two miles 
from their home. Tliey took a leading ])art in the services until a Bapti.sl 
churcli was established, wiien tiicy jciincil tlu' latter and have ever since been 
faithful and devoted members. They contriinited liberally of their time and 
means toward the erection of the house of worshi]) in 1908. and at this 
time Mr. Crotser holds various official positions in the organization, his wife 
being one of the most efficient teachers in the Sunday schnol and a leader in 
the Ladies Aid Society. 

The family of Mr. and Mrs. Crotser consists of two children, Clarence 
and Floyd. The former was born January 6, 1880, received a high school 
education in Mt. Pleasant and now owns forty acres of land in Chippewa 
township, this county, though still living with his parents; Floyd, whose birth 
occurred on the i8th of June, 1893, bnisbed the common school course and 
is now pursuing his studies in the Mt. Pleasant high school where he lias 
made an honorable record as an industrious and critical student. 

David Kindy, father of Mrs. Crotser, was born in Canada in the year 
183 1, and when a young man married Flizabeth Cult, a native of Medina 
county, Ohio, where her birth occurred in 1838. The latter died in 11)04: 
the former, who survived her, is now living in Kalamazoo county, Michigan. 
Mrs. Crotser was born in Medina county, Ohio, in i860, and when one year 
old was taken to Kalamazoo county, where she grew to womanhood and 
married. 



I. W. KELLFK. 



To a great extent tiie ])rosperity of the agricultural sections of our coun- 
try is due to the honest industry, the sturdy persistence, the unswerving ])er- 
severance and wise economy which so prominently characterize the farming 
element in the Wolverine state. Among this class may l)e mentioned J. W. 
Keller, who, by reason of years of indefatigable labor and honest effort, has 
not only actpiired a well-merited material ])rosperity, but has also richly 
earned the highest esteem of all with whom he has associated, and he is re- 
garded as one of the leading agriculturists of Denver township, Isabella 
county. 

Mr. Keller was lx)rn in Huron county. Ontario, Canada, February 5, 
186^. He is the son o( Michael Keller, who was born in i8j8 in Germnnv 



558 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

and who emigrated to New York city in 1848. He drifted tlirough several 
Eastern states, finally reaching as far west as Louisville, Kentucky, thence 
back to Ontario, where he settled on a farm and was married to Eliza Hol- 
man in 1861, at Exeter, Huron county, Ontario. They remained there until 
the spring of 1880, when he came to Michigan and bought one hundred and 
twenty acres which is now divided among his three sons and being part of 
their homes. The older Keller put up a small log house on his land here, 
then returned to Ontario for his family, moving to Michigan the following 
fall, and he lived on this place the rest of his life, dying in 1894. He was an 
honest, hard-working man, highly respected in his community and who pro- 
vided well for his family and was kind to all, withholding charity from none 
in need of same. The mother is now living with her children. Thev reared a 
large family, named as follows: Martin lives at Stevenson Lake, Michigan: 
John, of this review ; Jennie, who married Robert Ervine, of Coleman, Michi- 
gan ; Eliza married J. H. Trip and lives in Kalkaska, Alichigan: Mary mar- 
ried Delbert Morris, of Chicago, where they still make their home : Michael 
lives on the old home place in Denver township : George R. is living on a part 
of the old homestead : W. Joseph is living in Toledo, Ohio ; Esther died in the 
spring of 1909; Eleanor married and is living in Mexico. 

J. W. Keller was fifteen years old when his father moved to Michigan. 
He went to school in Canada and assisted his father in his farm work. He 
worked at home for five years after coming to this state, and when he reached 
his majority he went to Minnesota and the Dakotas to see the country, spend- 
ing over a year there engaged in carpentering, then returned home, where he 
remained until 1888, working on the home place and at carpentering in that 
\-icinity. In 1888 he went to Oregon and followed his trade and worked also 
as a millwright, remaining there until the summer of 1890. He made good 
money there considering the length of time he was engaged. The father be- 
came seriously ill and he was summoned home. The following fall he was 
married to Mary Rolfe, daughter of B. H. and Emily Rolfe, who was born 
on July 27,, 1869, in Ingham county, Michigan. Her parents moved to Isa- 
bella county when she was young and her marriage occurred in Denver town- 
ship at her home. His father gave them forty acres of wild land and they 
moved on it and improved it. Two children were born to this union. E. 
Irene, who is a graduate from the Central Michigan Normal, and Gladys M., 
both at home. Mr. Keller is now the owner of one hundred and forty acres 
of land, forty acres being bought in 1889 and the other twenty in 1902, also 
a fine dwelling property in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. He built all the build- 
ings on the place, including an excellent, large and attracti\e dwelling and 



KSAHKLl.A COL'NTV. MICHIGAN. 359 

two spleiuliil Ijanis. tlic latter one in 1906. Being a carpenter of niiirli >\<'\\\ 
lie erected his own l)ni]ilin.L;>. lie was conipelletl to clear his land of hea\y 
timber and to stnnip it. He lias jilaced many substantial improvements on the 
place, inchiding many ontbiiildinj^s. He carries on general farming and stock 
raising, keeping large nuniliers of Durham cattle and a fine drove of hogs, 
also some good horses. 

While he does not mingle much in political affairs, he is always inter- 
ested in the affairs of the township, county and state, and has held several of 
the local ofifices, such as justice of the peace, which office he is now holding; 
he has for years held the office of super\isor and countv cainasser and high- 
way commissioner, and also has held .school offices. lie belongs to the I'ap- 
tist church, the Independent Order of Old Fellows at Rosebush and Mt. 
Pleasant and has held some of the chairs in the same. He has been a mem- 
ber of the Grange for several years and with the exception of one year has 
always held the office of master, and while a member of the Gleaners he 
was a chief for four years. Politically he is a Republican. Having lived 
here the major part of his life and been more or less active in public affairs, 
he is well and favorably known throughout the county and is well liked by 
evervbodv. 



GEORGE T. CLARK. 



The subject of this sketch is a native of England, born in Gloucester- 
shire on the 3d day of May, 1856. He remained in the land of his birth 
until fourteen years of age, at which time he accompanied his parents to 
Oxford county, Ontario, where he grew to young manhood and acquired a 
fair education in the public schools. When twenty years old he moved with 
the family to Ionia comity, this state, and after remaining one year in that 
part of Michigan, came in the fall of 1876 to Isabella county and diuMug 
the ensuing ten years lived in the township of Isabella, devoting his attention 
the meanwhile to farm labor. In 1886 Mr. Clark moved to his present place 
of residence in section 30 of the above township, the eighty acres which he 
then purchased being all wooded antl requiring much hard work to clear and 
fit for cultivation. He helped cut roads through the forests, assisted in mak- 
ing various other public improvements and did his full share in developing 
the section of the country in which he lives and making it one of the finest 
agricultural districts in the township. In the course of a few years he had 
the greater part of his land cleared and in cultivation, besides adding to his 



560 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

original purchase from time to time until his real estate now amounts to two 
hundred acres of fine land, on which are some of the best improvements in the 
locality. 

Mr. Clark has made all the improvements on his farm and. as already 
indicated above, he now has a beautiful and attractive country home and 
is well situated so far as material prosperity is concerned. By industry and 
good management he has succeeded in accumulating a sufficiency of this 
world's goods to place him in independent circumstances, being one of the 
leading farmers of his township and a public-spirited citizen who manifests 
commendable interest in all measures having for their object the social ad- 
vancement of the community and the moral good of his fellow men. \\'hile 
well informed on the leading public questions of the times and the issues 
concerning which men aixl parties divide, he is not a politician, though on 
state and national affairs he generally votes with the Republican party, being 
independent in local matters. Religiously, he w^as reared in the church of 
England and still adheres to the Episcopal faith, though liberal in his views 
and ready to accord to every man the same right of pri\-ate judgment wliich 
he claims for himself. 

The presiding spirit in Mr. Clark's home is the lady of intelligence and 
gentle presence who bears his name and who previous to her marriage was 
Mary Stutter of Gloucestershire, England. Their family circle is composed 
of eleven children, whose names are as follows: Jesse, Frank. Mabel, Albert, 
Emma, Jennie, Ina, Gladys, Thomas, Charles and Rosilie, a son, George, 
who was the first in the order of birth, Ijeing deceased. 



HON. JOHX W. HAXCE. 

The biographies of successful men are instructive as guides and incentives 
to those whose careers are yet to be achieved. The examples they furnish of 
patient purpose and consecutive endeavor strongly illustrate what is in the 
power of each to accomplish. The gentleman whose life history is herewith 
brieflv set forth is a conspicuous example of one who has lived to good purpose 
and achieved a definite degree of success in the various spheres to which his 
talents and energies have been devoted. Mr. Hance being widely known in this 
section of Michigan as a citizen of high rank, a public spirited man who has 
ever manifested a willingness to serve his fellow men, a man who made a most 
commendable record as state senator, and at present the postmaster at Mt. 




HON. JOHN W. HANCE 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 561 

Pleasant. ha\ iiig long maintained his home in Isabella county, whose interests 
he has ever sought to promote in every way possil>le and which he evidently 
has at heart. He is known as a man of unshrinking integrity, rigid honesty, 
technical in his dctinitions of morality, unbending in his fidelity to them, 
championing the right witli zeal and cntluisiasm. 

Mr. Ilance, who is tlie scion of a sterling old pioneer family, was born 
on .\ugust 2. 1848. in Marengo. Morrow county, Ohio, lie is of German 
descent, his ancestors Quakers, having emigrated to the state of New Jersey in 
an early day. He is the son of Adam Hance. who was born in Knox county. 
Ohio, and Mary A. (Morrison) Hance who also was born in Ohio, of Welsh 
ancestry. In 1863 the family came to Isabella county, Michigan, and engaged 
in farming. John W. Hance of this review was the third son. The father 
and ])atenial grandfather were loyal to the Union cause and assisted in the 
work of tile "underground railroad." helping many a slave to rcacli free soil 
and freedom. 

.Mr. Hance recei\ed a good education and began life as a school teacher, 
which profession he followed with much success for a period of six years. 
In January. 1873. he became de])uty county clerk and register of deeds under 
Joel C. (iraves, whom he met by cliance and who at once said to him: "I 
recently dreamed that you were my deputy in office, and I now api)iiint \ou to 
that place." Mr. Hance accepted. Mr. Graves served two years and then 
Hance was elected and Graves was with Hance. In 1882, having long mani- 
fested an abiding interest in ])ublic affairs, he was elected state senator for his 
district, which included Isabella, Gratiot. Midland and Clare counties. He 
made a commendable record in this important office. He was chairman of the 
committee on state iniblic sch.ools, a meml)er of the committee on canals, rivers 
and harbor improvements, also banks and corporations and federal relations. 

Mr. Hance came to Mt. Pleasant in January. 1875. He was for a num- 
Wy of venrs interested in the real estate business, also in lumbering. He has 
been fairly successful in whatever he has turned his attention to, and is now 
the owner of a well improved and valuable farm adjoining the city. He lives 
on this place, having a large, modern and attractive home. In 18S3. in i)art- 
nership with Michael Devereaux, be erected a large brick block, in connection 
with many enter])riscs. He is a business man of keen discenunent and sound 
judgment. 

Mr. I lance was married on May J4. 1889, to Sarah C. Marshall, daughter 
of Dr. and Mrs. W. J. Corbus. a fine old family of this county. This union 
has l)een without issue. 

(36) 



562 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.. 



]\Ir. Hance was appointed postmaster at Mt. Pleasant on Feljruary 13, 
1902. This is a second-class office and Mr. Hance is now serving his third 
term. He has given entire satisfaction both to the department and to the 
citizens here, being faithful to duty at all times. He has two commissions 
from Roosevelt and one from Taft. Although the office takes much of his 
time, he is still engaged in tlie real estate and loan business with Mr. 
Devereaux. 



MICHAEL DUGGAN. 

The subject of this sketch is the oldest of six children whose parents, 
Edmond and Margaret (Qwin) Duggan. were natives of Ireland. The • 
father was reared in his native island and. when about thirty-five years of 
age, came to the United States and settled in New York, where he remained 
a few years and then went to Ypsilanti, Michigan. Later he moved to 
Isabella county and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of government 
land in section 36, Lincoln township, on which he built a log house, pur- 
chased a yoke of oxen and began clearing the farm. Two years later, 
about 1857, his marriage with Margaret Qwin was solemnized. With the 
aid of his sons, he subsequently cleared and converted the land into a good 
farm. He spent the remainder of his life on this place and at his death, 
in the year 1899, it was willed to his si.x children, seventy acres falling to the 
subject, who afterwards purchased the entire tract, less thirty-six acres. 

Michael Duggan was born on the family homestead in Lincoln town- 
ship, Isabella county, October 20, 1859, and received a common school educa- 
tion. He was reared to agricultural pursuits and early in life formed the 
habits of industry and thrift, which made him a valuable assistant to his 
father and later enabled him to lay broad and deep the foundation of his own 
success as a tiller of the soil. Inheriting a part of the estate at his father's 
death, as indicated above, he proceeded at once to improve his land, which 
in due time was brought to a high state of cultivation and later, by pur- 
chasing his brother's and sister's interests, his farm was enlarged to its 
present area of one hundred and twenty-four acres, nearly all susceptible 
to tillage and well improved. Mr. Duggan's career as a farmer has been 
satisfactory in every respect. He has succeeded admirably and is now one 
of the well-to-do men of his township, with a comfortable and attractive 
home and a sufficiency of material wealth to make him independent. He 
has improved his farm with good buildings, fences, drainage, etc., and with 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 563 

all the modern accessories of agriculture at hand, he makes his laliors re- 
munerative and adds every year to tlie ample competency which he has 
accuiinilated. 

Mr. Duggan has ever manifested a lively interest in the development 
and prosperity of his township and in point of continuous residence he is 
now one of its oldest and most highly esteemed citizens. He enjoys to a 
marked degree the confidence of his fellow men and l)y a life singularly free 
from faults his influence has always made for the good of those with whom 
he has mingled. From time to time he has been honored with various local 
ofHces. in which, as in his relations with his fellow citizens, his integrity was 
never impeached nor his veracity questioned. In politics he supports the 
Democratic party and takes an active part in promoting its success; he be- 
longs to the organization of Gleaners at Summerton and is a loyal and devout 
member of the Catholic church. 

Mr. Duggan, in the month of October, iSgo, was united in the holy 
bonds of wedlock with llannah O'Brien, who has borne him the following 
children: Edmund. Paul, .\rthur, Marie. Bernice and Beatrice, the two last 
twins. 



WILBUR N. PIERPONT. 

Holding worthy prestige as a citizen and distinctively one of the leading 
farmers of the township in which he resides, the subject of this re\iew occu- 
pies an im])ortant place among the representative meii of Lsabella county and 
it is with much satisfaction that the biographer presents in this connection the 
following outline of his career and a modest trilnite to his worth. Wilbur X. 
Pierpont is a native of Livingston county. New York, born in the town of 
Lima, September 28. 1865. \\'hen eight years old he was taken by bis parents 
to Owos.so. Michigan, where he grew to maturity in close touch with the soil 
and until attaining his maiority worked at farm labor in the summer time and 
during the winter months he attended the district schools, also the high school 
at Owosso, graduating in 1885. Reare<l to agricultural pursuits, he early de- 
cided to devote his life to the cultivation of the soil, accordingly in Xoveni- 
ber. 1891, he came to Isabella county and purchased eighty acres of land in 
.section m, Fremont township, which he at once proceeded to improve and 
which he subsef|uently increased by a forty-acre tract adjoining, making his 
Iiome place of one hundred and twenty acres one of the finest and most de- 
sirable farms in the township. 



564 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

From the Ijeginning of his career to the present time Mr. Pierpont has 
lieen uniformlv successful and in addition to the farm on which he resides he 
now owns other valuable lands, including eighty acres in section 23 of the 
above township, and a like number of acres in section 10, his real estate 
amounting to two hundred and eighty acres, being among the best and most 
desirable in the county and increasing in value with each recurring year. As a 
farmer he easily ranks among the most enterprising and successful of the 
township in which he lives, being progressive in his ideas, a believer in modern 
improvements and cultivating the soil according to the latest and most ap- 
proved methods. By remodeling his dwelling and adding a number of mod- 
ern conveniences, he now has a commodious and comfortable home with at- 
tractive surroundings, and his other buildings, including a substantial barn, 
leave little to be desired in the way of improvements. While devoted to his 
calling and making every other consideration subordinate thereto, he takes an 
active interest in the advancement of the community, lends his influence and 
support to all laudable measures for the welfare of his fellow men and is ever 
ready to encourage enterprises having for their object the general good of his 
county and state. A Democrat in politics, he was four times elected super- 
visor and served in that capacity, during which time he discharged his duties 
in a straightforward, business-like manner and proved, in the most liberal 
meaning of the term, an able and judicious official. He has been one of the 
directors of the Farmers" Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Isabella county 
for the past twelve years. Fraternally, Mr. Pierpont is identified with the 
ancient and honorable order of Freemasonry, belonging to Cedar \^alley 
Lodge No. 383, and also holds membership with Cedar Ridge Lodge No. 540, 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, besides being a leading spirit in the 
Eastern Star chapter, the Grange, the Loyal Guard and the Knights of the 
Maccabees, in all of which organizations he has been honored at intervals 
with important official trusts. 

The domestic life of Mr. Pierpont dates from the year 1888. when he 
was united in marriage with Georgia M. Mack, whose birth occurred on the 
6th of May, 1869. Mrs. Pierpont's parents, William and Jane (McCrea) 
Mack, were natives of Canada, born in the years 1832 and 1837, respectively. 
They came to Michigan a number of years ago and spent the remainder of 
their lives in this state, both dying at Owosso, the mother in 1883, the father 
in 1888. Mr. and Mrs. Pierpont have two children, Clarence N.. born in the 
town of Owosso, on April 20, 1890. and David W.. whose birth occurred in 
Fremont township. Isabella county. January i, 1892, both being intelligent 
and manly young men and their father's efficient assistants in cultivating the 
farm. 



ISABfLLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 565 

Samuel X. i'it'ipcnu, tlie siiliject"s father, was Ikmii in Livingston county. 
New ^'()rk. in iS^o, and ir. 1S74 moved his family tn Owosso, Michigan, 
wiiere lie continued to reside until the death of his wife in 1904. since which 
time he has made his home with his son. Wilbur X.. in Isabella county. 
Augusta Wilbur, wife of Samuel Pierpont and mother of the subject, was 
born in Xorth Londonderry, \'ermoiii. in 1837, and departed this life at 
Owosso in the \ear indicated above. 



GEORGK H. GOVER. 

In examining the life-records of self-made men. it will invariably be 
found that indefatigable industry has constituted the basis of their success. 
True there are other elemer.ts which enter in and conserve the advancement 
of personal interests, — perseverance, discrimination and mastering of expe- 
dients, — but the foundation of all achievement is earnest, persistent labor. At 
the outset of his career, George H. Gover, well-known citizen of Leaton, 
Michigan, recognized this fact, and he did not seek any royal road to the goal 
of prosperity and independence, but began to work earnestly and diligently 
in order to advance himself, and the result is that he is now numbered among 
the ijrogressive. successful men of Isalxdla county. 

Mr. Gover was born in Lond(Mi. England, in June. 1846. and he grew 
to maturity and was educated there, remaining there until he was t\vcnt\-one 
years of age. Having a desire to see America and believing that better condi- 
tions prevailed here for a gentleman of his tastes he came to X^ew York, but 
a week later came west to Chicago, where a friend who accompaniefl him to 
our shores from England had friends. He reinained there three months, Init 
did only a little work. He then moved to Bloomington, Iowa, where he re- 
mained two weeks, then went hack to Chicago and from there to Ludington. 
He had worked in England at the printer's trade from the age of thirteen to 
twenty-one. at first receiving about fifty cents per week and Ixiarded himself: 
his wages increased until he received aI)out ten dollars per week. He worked 
in the mills and woods after going to Ludington, remaining there three or 
four years, walking along the lake from there to Manistee. He worked at 
Howard City, where he assiste<l in building a saw mill in which he worked 
for some time, remaining there two years when it was a village of only a few 
houses. They took the mill over to Lake \'iew. the l)est pine having l)een 
used up at Howard City; he ran the mill at Lake View four or five years. 



566 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

during whicli time he also worked in tlie woods. \\'hen he left there he went 
to Palo, Ionia county, and there married, on April 2, 1878, Margaret Xoel, 
who was born in 1845 "^^t" Niles, Michigan. Mrs. Cover died two years 
after her marriage without issue. 

Mr. Gover engaged in the grocery business and enjoyed a good trade, 
especially with farmers, having as a partner his brother-in-law, Gideon Xoel. 
He remained in this business until nine months after his second marriage, 
wliich occurred in ]\Iarch, 1883, while living in Palo, to Mrs. Emma J. Moss, 
daughter of Dr. David and Maiy Hollister. 

Mr. Gover's store was burned in 1883, which fact caused him to move to 
Isabella county, and at Mt. Pleasant he conducted alone a general store for 
eight months, then moved his stock of goods to Leaton and bought property 
here in 1884. building a store-house on one of his lots, twenty-two by sixty 
feet, with a wing, fourteen by twenty-eight, and another building eighteen by 
twenty, which is now occupied by J. B. Cleveland. He maintained that store 
for twenty-four years, during which time he built up a very extensi\-e and 
satisfactory trade, then rented it. During this time he bought forty acres of 
good land on which he now lives, later purchased eighty acres in section 29, 
one mile from his present place. He rebuilt the residence, which had been 
erected by C. J. Blondheim. He bought lands at various times for purposes 
of s])eculation, which netted him very satisfactory gains. While Ii\ing in 
Palo Mr. Gover studied pharmacy with his lirother-in-law, who was a drug- 
gist, and one of the doctors there also gave him much assistance. They added 
drugs to their grocery business and carried on an excellent trade. 

After the death of his first wife Mr. Gover returned to England on a 
visit, where he remained three months, visited Hampton Court, the British 
Museum, the Tower of London, Chelsey College and other places of interest. 

By her first huslsand. Mrs. Gover was the mother of one daughter. 
Annella, now the wife of William J. Cooper, of Mt. Pleasant, and the\- are 
the parents of one child. To Mr. and Mrs. Gover were born two children: 
Noel D., who was born at Palo December 12, 1883, and is now a successful 
merchant at Shepherd, married Myrta Wood in October, 1906. Harrv G. 
Gover, who was born at Leaton, May 13, 1889, is a successful teacher and 
bookkeeper. 

When Mr. Gover came here the country was wild and manv Indians 
made this their place of abode. The land was covered with stumps and logs 
and there was little improvement of any kind. He has always been interested 
in the development of this country and has done his share. He made manv 
improvements about his two farms, erected all kinds of outbuildings, includ- 



ISABELLA COL'NTY. MICHIGAN. 567 

ing a good bam, twenty by forty feet, and sank a flowing well on hotii places, 
also remodeled his store-house. 

I""or twelve or fifteen years Mr. Gover was postmaster at Leaton, also 
hell! minor offices, always to the satisfaction of all concerned, lie was chair- 
man of the Rei)ul)Iican township committee when it was first organized and is 
still occupying that position. He is a memljer of the Presbyterian church and 
belongs to the Knights of the Maccaljees, Tent Xo. 539. Eldorado, at Rose- 
bush, also the Free and Accepte<l Masons at Mt. Pleasant. His wife is a 
member of the Order of the Eastern Star and the Maccaljees. 



r)A\ll) K. .M(X)R. 



The subject of this sketcii is an honoraljle representative of one of tlie 
old and esteemed families of Isabella county and to him also belongs the credit 
of liming been an active participant in the settlement and subsequent develop- 
ment of Fremont township, where he located in an early day. William Moor, 
the subject's father, was a native of Amistrong county. Pennsylvania, as was 
also his mother, who l)ore the maiden name of Eliza Kier. These parents 
mcx'ed to Oliio a number of years ago and from Putniim couiUy, tiiat state. 
came to Isaliella county. Michigan, in iSf)5. settling in the wilds of what is 
now Fremont township. William .Moor located on eighty acres of homestead 
land in section 7 and experienced all the hardships and vicissitudes incident to 
life in the 1)ack woods. For some time he acted as "tote man" for t!ie settlers 
west of the Big Cedar swamp, drawing su])plies from Hubl)ardston and Ionia 
with a team of horses, the meanwhile as opportunity aft'orded. felling the 
forest, grubbing the ground and preparing his land for tillage. Later he 
devoted bis entire attention to the improvement of his land and in due time 
succeeded in develo])ing a line farm and a comfortable home. This he sold 
out and moved to the southwest part of Indiana, both dying there some \ears 
ago 

David K. Moor was born October 28. 184^. in .\rmstrong county. 
Pennsylvania, and when quite young was taken by his parents to Putnam 
county. Ohio, where he spent his early life and obtained such educational dis- 
cipline as the indifferent country schools of those times afforded. He assisted 
his father on the farm unti' arrivingat the years of maturity and in 1805 
moved with the family to Allegan county. Michigan, where he worked for a 
few months, helping construct a dam. after which he came to Isal>ella' county 



568 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

and assisted his father to clear and improve the farm in Fremont township, 
to which reference is made in a preceding paragraph. Leaving tlie parental 
roof a few months later, he homesteaded his present farm in section 21, 
consisting of eight}' acres, to the improvement of which he at once addressed 
himself and which under his effective labors and judicious management was 
in due season cleared and reduced to cultivation. While thus engaged he en- 
dured many vicissitudes and hardships not a few. among others being the 
high prices at which groceries and other necessities sold, flour at one time 
conimantling as much as twenty-five dollars per barrel, the barrels having to 
be rolled through the woods to the houses where ordered. 

With the passing years success attended the efforts of Mr. Moor and it 
was not long until he was comfortably situated, with bright prospects for the 
future. By energetic and continuous toil, he succeeded in bringing his land to 
a high state of tillage and later increased its value by a number of substantial 
improvements, including a fine modern brick residence erected in 1906, also a 
good barn and outbuildings, besides a large amount of fencing. He now has 
one of the best farms and among the most attractive and desirable homes in 
the township and is certainly well situated to enjoy the many material bless- 
ings by which he is surrounded. Beginning life in the woods, with no means 
worthy of mention and no help from influential friends, he has with his own 
strong amis, backed by a determined purpose, carved out a comfortable com- 
petency, his farm being conservatively estimated at six thousand five hundred 
dollars, to say nothing of valuable live stock, machinery', implements, etc.. and 
a surplus capital which insures his future against the proverbial "rainy day." 

Mr. Moore served his township twenty terms as treasurer and proved a 
most capable and faithful official, besides holding for one year the position of 
road commissioner. He has been active in political circles and is one of the 
leading Democrats of Fremont township, still wielding a strong influence for 
his party, keeping in touch with the leading cjuestions and issues of the day 
and abreast of the times on all matters in which the public is interested. On 
November 5, 1865, he was united in marriage with Ellen Callwell, whose 
birth occurred November 12, 1845, in Putnam county, Ohio, being a daughter 
of David and Eve (Ferine) Callwell, natives of that state, the father born in 
1823 and the mother in 1825. These parents spent nearly, if not all, their 
lives in Ohio and died there in the year 1884 and 1846, respectively. 

Mr. and Mrs. Moor have reared a large family, fourteen children in all, 
whose names are as follows: William, born October 17. 1866, is deceased, 
being survived by a widow who prior to her marriage was Issa Estella ; 
Melissa, born August 16, 1868, is the wife of Joe Rundell and lives in Owosso, 



ISABELLA COL'NTY, MICHIGAN. 569 

this state: Rol^ert was born November 7. 1870, and lives at Hen in. .Mi)ntana. 
his wife iiaving formerly been .\niv Rol)€rts; Letitia, l)i>rn i'Vliruary J2. 
1871. married Enoch Smith and resides at P)ig Rapitis. Michigan; Jolin, whose 
birth occurred on November 13, 1873, married Emma Vicory and is a farmer 
of Fremont township: Charles, who married Nellie Delo and who is also a 
resident of Fremont townshi]). was horn May 2~. 1875; Anna. l)orn January 
13, 1877, is the wife of Earl Jordan, of Detroit: Mary, now Mrs. Walter 
Hardy, was born August 25, 1878, and lives in Big Rapids: Emmet. Ixun 
February 2, 1880, works on an ore steamer plying the Great Lakes, but makes 
his home with his parents; Lottie, wife of Norm Mathews, was born January 
28, 1881, and lives in the city of Big Rapids; Stella, born January 18. 1884, 
married Minor Walton and lives in Mt. Pleasant ; George A. C. was born 
Manh 6. i88f^). and is also married, his wife iia\ing formerly been I-'dith Con- 
rad; (irace. born Octolier 17. 1887, is deceased : Edward, whose birth occurrerl 
on April 23. 1891. is unmarried and a memljer of the home circle. 



PETER BELTLNCK. 



As the name suggests, the subject of this sketch is of foreign liirth. his 
native land being the kingdom of Belgium, where he first saw the light of day 
on June 8, 1854. He spent his early life near his native town of Ousbeekee, 
in the schools of which he received a fair educational training and later began 
earning his livelihood as a tiller of the soil. Mr. I'eltinck labored diligently on 
a farm, but owing to the small wages wliicii unskilled lalxir in his country 
commanded he did not succeed in getting anything aiiead, accordingly he 
decided to cjuit the land of his forefathers and try his fortune in the great 
American republic beyond the sea. With this object in view, he married, in 
1875, the young lady of his choice and the day following the ceremony took 
ship for his distant destination, being twenty-nine years of age at the time, 
and with but little means above the price of his and his wife's passage across 
the water. 

Immediately after landing. Mr. P.eltinck made his way to Frankfort, 
Michigan, near which place he spent the first years as a lalxirer for monthly 
wages, and at the expiration of that time became foreman in a lumber camp, 
which position he filled during the nine years ensuing. Severing his connec- 
tion with his employer in 1893. '^^ came to Isabella county and purchase*! 
eighty acres of woodlaml in Union township, going in debt for the same, as he 



570 . ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

was able to save little above bis living from bis wages as a lumberman. Ad- 
dressing himself to tbe task of improving his land, he labored diligently dur- 
ing the following years and in due time had a goodly number of acres cleared 
and in cultivation, besides making \'arious improvements in the way of build- 
ings, fencing and ditcliing, which added greatly to the productiveness and 
value of the farm. Without following his career in detail, suffice it to state 
that in the course of time his land was cleared and otherwise improved and 
the last dollar of indebtedness paid, and in addition to bis original purchase 
he has since bought an eighty-six acre tract near by which under his effective 
labors has also been brought to a successful state of tillage. 

Mr. Beltinck paid for his first eighty acres the sum of one thousand six 
hundred and fifty dollars, but with improvements since made it is now worth 
over six thousand dollars, fur every cent of which he is indebted to his own 
efforts and thrift. Among tb.e improvements are a fine modern barn forty by 
fifty feet in dimensions, several outbuildings, which are substantial and in 
first-class repair. One thousand five hundred rods of eight-inch, one thousand 
rods of six-inch and four thousand rods of three-inch tiling, making in all 
si.x thousand five hundred rods of ditching, by means of which a number of 
acres of very fertile land have been reclaimed and the productiveness of the 
rest of tbe farm greatly enhanced. Financially, Mr. Beltinck has met with 
success commensurate with tlie labor and time which he has expended on his 
lands and he is now among- the well-to-do farmers and substantial citizens of 
his township and county, living in independent circumstances with sufficient 
means at bis command to insure a prosperous and "comfortable future. In 

, connection .with tilling the soil lie gives niuch attention to live stock.. making a 
specialty of cattle of the Holstein breed, of which superior animals he now 
has cjuite a number, including a dairy of thirty cows and a fine bull which 
represents a value of several, hundred dollars. During the last few years he 
had devoted considerabje attention to the building of high grade cattle and 
his. reputation in this important branch of farming has made him widely and 
favorably known among the leading stock men throughout the central part of 
the state. 

Mrs. Beltinck, whose maiden name was Leona Adelia Rommel, was born 
on April 23, 1858, in Belgium, and, as already stated, became the wife of the 
.subject the day before starting for the United States in 1875. She has borne 
her husband children, as follows: Florence, wife of Charles Culpert, of To- 
ledo, Ohio; Ona, who married Mary Allen and has one child, Florence, 
lives on the home farm, which he helps culti\'ate: Romman is married to Miss 

■ Edith Faber and lives on the farm homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Beltinck have 



ISABELLA COINTV, MICHIGAN. 57I 

moved In Mt. Pleasant, retired fiMin farniing. lea\iii,<^ tlieir sons in cnnifurlaldc 
circumstances. I'raternally. Mr. I'eltinck holds membership with I live Xo. 
129. Kinghts of the Modern Maccabees, and politically votes with the Demo- 
cratic party. Himself and wife were reared Catholics and now belong to the 
church of that order at Mt. Pleasant, to the support of which he is a liberal 
contributor. 



THOMAS \V. ROBIXSOX. M. D. 

Prominent in the affairs of IsalicUa county and distinguished as a jjhy- 
sician and citizen far beyond the limits of the localitv honored bv his resi- 
dence, the name of Dr. Thnmas W. Robinson stands out cunspicunusly anmng 
the successful and representative men in his chosen line of endeavor in cen- 
tral and southern Michigan. Characterized by remarkable breadth of wisdom 
and strong indixiduality. and in all his undertakings actuated by noble mo- 
ti\es and high resolves, his success and achievements represent the result of 
fit utilization of innate talent in directing effort along those lines where mature 
judgment, professional skill and rare discrimination lead the way. He is a 
studious man and is tireless in his research in an effort to keep abreast of the 
times in e\eryt]iing. especially his profession, and as a result of such habits, 
coupled with bis native tact and gentlemanly attributes, he is held in esteem 
by all who know him and has the utmost confidence of all classes. 

Doctor Robinson was born on February i^v ■<'^4i. i" Canada. He is the 
scion of a sterling ancestry, being the son of Jnhn and Margery ( Mnntcreaf ) 
Robinson, both nati\es of the state of Xew York, and peoi)le highly respected 
and induential in their community. They moved to Saginaw. Michigan, when 
their son, Thomas \\'., was eight years of age. and the\- remained there four 
years, then, in 1851, the subject went to Iowa and worked chiefly as a teamster 
until he was twenty-three years of age. Then he returned to Hartings, 
Peterborough county. Canada, and remained there until 1871. when he came 
to Saginaw, Michigan, and there he worked as check clerk for the b'lint & Pere 
Marquette Railroad Company until the fall of 1873. when he located in 
Loomis, Wise township. Isabella count v. He was interested in the iumiier 
business at first. In 1880 he liought eight}' acres of land in section 8 and 
settled there in the s])ring of 1882. and he still runs this place and has been 
very successful, having develojied an excellent farm. He also has sixty acres 
in section 4. He has |)laced many valuable and substantial improvements on 
these farms and thev rank v> ith the best land in the countv. 



572 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Doctor Robinson was married on February 25, 1862, at Norwood, 
Ontario, to Eliza Weston, who was born in England, of an excellent family, 
on February 22, 1845. Her death occurred on January 18, 1876, at Loomis. 
This union resulted in the \nx\\\ of the following children: George, who 
married Miss Davoe, is a veterinary surgeon and lives in Clare, Michigan; 
Violet married Robert Atkinson, and they live in Niles, Michigan ; Sheldon 
is single and resides in the state of Washington ; Beverly is married and lives 
in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. On February 22, 1900, Doctor Robinson mar- 
ried Mrs. Tellie Webb Walker, of Alma. Michigan. 

Doctor Robinson had the advantages of a fairly good early schooling and 
he has since supplemented the same by extensive home reading and study. 
He took up the study of medicine and has specialized im the eyes and dis- 
eases of the head and has been very successful, being widely known as a spe- 
cialist, and he has numerous patients from other states. He always has about 
ten patients in Loomis and vicinity, where he maintains his office. He is well 
versed in this line of work and keeps abreast of modern science. He al.so 
maintains an office at Clare. Michigan, where he goes two or three times a 
week and where he has numerous patients. He has been health officer of 
Wise township for the past ten years and has been very faithful in the dis- 
charge of his duties in this connection. He is a meml>er of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. He has been a notary public for two years, school director 
for three years and justice of the peace for thirty-four years. He is known 
to be a very conscientious and able public servant and always discharges his 
duties to the best of his ability. He has seen this country grow from the 
wilderness to its present advanced stage of civilization, and he has played well 
his part in this development. Fraternally, the Doctor is a Mason, and be- 
longs to the Knights of Honor, Court No. 1772, at Loomis. 



FRANK M. TAYLOR. 

The subject of this sketch, a well-known dealer in general merchandise 
and one of the leading business men of Shepherd, is a nati\-e of Jackson county, 
Michigan, and a son of John F. and Angeline (Williams) Taylor, the father 
born in England, the mother in Jackson county, both being now deceased. 
Frank M. Taylor first saw the light of day July 24, 1865, and spent his child- 
hood and youth on the home farm in his native township of Hanover, where at 
the proper age he entered the public schools, which he attended until sufficiently 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 573 

advanced in his studies to secure a teacher's license. He remained in the 
county of liis birtli until alxnit twenty-two years old. when he came to Tsa- 
jjclla county, where from 1S87 to 1891 he was engaged in teaching, discon- 
tinuing the profession the latter year to accept a clerkship in a mercantile 
house at Shepherd. After sjiending two years as a salesman, he engaged in 
husiness upon his own responsibility and at the expiration of one year he 
removed his stock from the old building which he first occupied to his present 
location, where he has since built up one of the largest stores in the town, his 
stock of general merchandise including dry goods, boots, shoes, hardware, 
groceries, indeed everything complete and filling the two commodious apart- 
ments which he finds necessary for the successful prosecution of his business. 

Mr. Taylor is a self-made man and as such occupies a commanding place 
among the enterprising merchants of his town and county. Possessing busi- 
ness ability of a high order, his career from the begimiing has lieen character- 
ized by continuous success and the influence which he now wields in commer- 
cial circles may be accepted as an earnest of still greater achievements in the 
larger sphere of usefulness which he is destined to till in the nn disi;uit future. 
Public-spirited in the most liberal meaning of the term antl deeply interested 
in whate\er makes for the material prosperity and sticial achancement of the 
community, he takes a leading part in all worthy enter[)rises and it is to him 
and such as he that Shepherd is indebted for the standing which the town 
enjoys in other parts of the state. In his political allegiance he is a Democrat 
and as such has filled a large place in the pul>lic eye not only as an inHuential 
leader of his party but as a capable official in various important positions. He 
served one year as township clerk, twelve years as town assessor and for a 
period of nine years was chairman of the local school board, during which 
time he lal)ored diligently for the cause of education and made the schools 
of Shepherd compare favorably with those of any other town in the state. In 
common with the majority of wide-awake enterprising men. he belongs to the 
ancient and honorable order of Freemasonry, holding membership with Salt 
River Lodge Xo. 288. and he is also identified with Hive Xo. zyj. Knights of 
the Maccabees, in both of which societies he has been honored from time to 
time with important trusts. 

In the year 1892 Mr. Taylor was hapjjily married to Irene Peterson, 
whose birth occurred in 1886. being a daughter of Daniel and Susan Peterson 
and a lady of intelligence who is well worthy to be the wife and helpmeet of 
the gentleman whi>m she honore<I with her heart and hand. Mr. and Mrs. 
Taylor's pleasant home is brightened by the presence of four children, ranging 
in age from youth to young manhood and womanhood, their names being as 



574 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

follows: Irene, Fred, Helen and Alildred. A sister of the subject, Ella, now 
Mrs. George Nealey, came to Isabella county in 1886 and since that time has 
lived at Shepherd. 



MELVIN R. CASTEL. 

A fanner of Lincoln township and one of the citizens of the community 
in which he resides, Melvin R. Castel was lx)rn in Montcalm county, Michi- 
gan, August 5, 1853. His father, William Castel, born June 2, 181 2, in New 
York, moved from that state a number of years ago to Washtenaw county, 
Michigan, thence to the county of Montcalm, of which he was an early settler. 
He endured many hardships and trials during the pioneer period, ser\ed 
eighteen years as supervisor of the latter county, and while living there was 
married on February 2^, 1841, to Betsey Stevens, who was born on May 22. 
1819. and who departed this life about the year 1896. The names of the 
children born to this couple are as follows: Francis, Harriet. \\'illiam H., 
Jerusha and Melvin R., all deceased except the subject and ^^'illiam H., wlio 
lives at St. Johns, this state. 

Melvin R. Castel spent his early life on the parental homestead in his 
native county, attended the public schools as opportunities afforded and grew 
to mature years with well developed plans for his future. When twenty years 
of age, he married the lady of his choice, Josephine Gobel, and at once rented 
one hundred acres of land, which during the next few years he devoted to 
general farming, paying special attention to corn, oats, buckwheat and pota- 
toes, of which he raised large crops and sold at liberal prices. Disposing of 
his interests in Montcalm county in 1878, he came to Isabella county and pur- 
chased the farm in Lincoln township which he still owns, in tlie meantime buv- 
ing and selling several other tracts of land in various parts of the county and 
realizing handsomely by some of his deals. At the present time his realty 
amounts to one hundred and twentx- acres, eighty of which are unimiiroved. 
though minus the timber, which he recently sold for a goodly sum. He is now 
preparing to remove the stumps from the land and fit the soil for tillage, which 
when done will add greatly to the producti\eness and value of the farm, 
which is already the ecjual of the best in the township. 

On moving to his present place Mr. Castel built a small house for the 
reception of his wife and took possession of the same before doors and win- 
dows had been provided. Although limited as to space and lacking many 
conveniences, the little domicile answered the purposes of a dwelling during 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 575 

the eiisuiiii; twonty-tive years, at the expiration of wliicli time it was replaced 
li\ the present residence, a liandsome stone structure, the main hody twenty- 
cii;ht hv twenty -eijjlit feet, the wing twelve by thirty-three feet, the entire 
building well tinished. and cciuip|)ed with conveniences and comforts such as 
are tduml in tirst-class nnal Ikiuics of today. The better to carry on tiie 
labor of the farm and care for his crops and live stock, he has provided the 
place witii a tine barn, thirty-four by fifty feet in area, a tool shed, in size 
twent\-t\\ci b\ ibiriy-six feet, several large sheds for stock and other build- 
ings, all sulistaiuialK' constructed and in excellent condition. In the matter 
of farming Mr. Castel ranks among the leading men of his calling in Isabella 
countv. being enterprising in his ideas and methods, and in touch with the 
advancement of agricultural science in all of its phases. In connection with 
the cultivation of the s<jil he rai.ses considerable live stock, including several 
horses, (juite a number of high grade cattle, among which are five cows of 
especially fine breeds, also a fine Hock of sheep of superior quality and a large 
numl)er of hogs to which he devotes much attention. 

Mr. Castel stands high as a citizen, taking a prominent part in all matters 
relating to the prosperit\- of his township and county, and for a number of 
vears he has been interested in public matters. He was ju.stice of the peace for 
twelve years, proving a capal)le and judicious official, and at different times 
held various school offices in his township, in all of which he discharged his 
duties ably and satisfactorily. 

Mr. Ca.stel is a member of Strickland Arbor. Order of Gleaners, in which 
he .served two years as chief gleaner and since 190J has been secretary of the 
organization. He is a charter member of the Gold Reserve Life Insurance 
Company and has been an influential factor in the same ever since it was 
established, besides lie encourages all other enterprises and utilities having for 
their object the general welfare of the community. 

Mr. and Mrs. Castel have no children of their own. but are deeply in- 
terested in the voung people of the neighborhood, whom they strive to benefit 
by aiiv means at their command. They are esteemed by the social circle in 
which thev move, keep |)ace with the intellectual life of the community and 
their influence is exerted in behalf of all worth)' charital)le and humanitarian 
projects. For some years thev have been identitied with the Lincoln Tiiwuship 
Farmers' Club, an organization having for its object the social imi)rovement of 
its membership which is composed of residents of Lincoln township and people 
from the northern parts of Montcalm and Gratiot counties. The meetings, 
which are held monthly at the homes of the members, are occasions of great 
interest and enjoyment, affording as they do an agreeable break to the monot- 



576 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

ony of life and a means of social and intellectual improvement which all 
who belong fully appreciate. The locality being removed from any town or 
populous center, renders the meetings of more than ordinary interest and 
profit, being looked forward to as supplying a social need for which ordinary 
means would prove inadequate. Mr. Castel served as president of the club 
and held the office for a period of two years, besides taking a leading part 
in the general exercises of the organization. 



ANTHONY TILMANN. 

A well known and successful farmer of Nottawa township, Isabella 
county, is Anthony Tilmann, who, like many of the progressive citizens of our 
republic, was born in Germany. His life has been one of great activity and 
since coming to this county his industry has been rewarded by the handsome 
competence which he now enjoys. He has made manv valuable improve- 
ments on his farm, including a very comfortable dwelling, substantial out- 
buildings, and, in fact, whatever has been necessary to make his place rank 
with the best in the vicinity, while the fertility of his farm has been increased 
to the greatest productive capacity. He stands in the front rank of agricul- 
turists and stock raisers in this locality, sparing neither labor nor expense to 
make his place as nearly ideal as possible, and doing his full share to raise the 
standard of agriculture in the highly favored locality where his home is 
situated. 

Mr. Tilmann"s birth occurred in the province of Westphalia, Germany, 
on April 30, 1855. \\'hen two years of age, in 1857, his parents Ijrought him 
to the United States and located in Detroit, Michigan. After remaining there 
one year, they moved to Clinton county, this state, where their son, Anthony, 
grew to maturity and worked on the farm. He attended school in the winter 
time, remaining there until the fall of 1875, when he mo\ed to Isabella county, 
locating in section 33, Nottawa township, on forty acres of timljer land, which 
he purchased. No roads were laid out, through or around it until 1876. He 
did not begin to clear it until 1877, but he is a hard worker and soon had a 
comfortable home here and a good farm. He worked in the lumber camps 
during the winter. He traded his first forty acres for a part of his present 
farm, in section 21, and he is now the owner of a fine farm of one hundred 
and ninety acres of as valuable land as the township can boast. He has cleared 
his land and now has one hundred and ten acres under cultivation, the re- 



ISABELLA COl'NTV. .MICHIGAN. 



."!// 



mainder being pasture. He keeps some good stock, cattle, horses, sheep, etc.. 
buving large nuniljers of cattle which he often prepares for the market. He 
has Ijcen very successful as a general farmer and stock man. and, having 
worked hard with no outside assistance, he is eminently deserving of the large 
success that he has achieved. 

Mr. Tilmann was married on May 30. 1882. to Catherine Simon, who was 
horn on .August 21, 1858, in Clinton county, Michigan. 

Mr. Tilmann is a Catholic, belonging to the church at Beal City. He was 
treasurer of the church for some time and is at present a member of the 
building committee. Politically he is a Democrat, but is independent for the 
most part, \oting, as a rule, for the man instead of the party. He has been 
for some time a member of the board of review of this township, and he has 
been school moderator for twehe years. 

The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Tilmann: Mary 
E. married George Xeubecher. of this township ; Louisa, who has remained 
single, is living at home, and attends the normal school at Mt. Pleasant, hav- 
ing taught very successfully for four years: Trese is a graduate of the rural 
course at the normal school and she is living at home: .Anna has passed the 
teacher's examination: Philomenia has also passed the teacher's examination; 
John is living at home. 

Mr. Tilmann is a man of influence in the church and other circles in ins 
communitv and he is highly respected by all who know him owing to his up- 
ritrht life. 



lOIlX |.\CKM.\X. 



Holding worthy prestige among his fellow citizens of Isabella township 
and distinctively one of the leading farmers of the township in which he re- 
sides, the subject of this sketch has had an active and honorable career and 
is worthy of a place in the list of men to whom Isabella county is entitled for 
its proud position among the most favored sections of the commonwealth. 
John Jackman is a native of ^'ork county, Ontario, where his birth occurred 
in the month of June, 1863. William Jackman, his father, was born in 
Devonshire, England, in 1837. and died in Isabella county. Michigan. Decem- 
ber 17. 1908. His mother, who previous to her marriage was Rebecca Baker, 
was born in York county. Ontario, in 1839. and departed this life at her home 
in Isal)ella township June 17. 1904. 



578 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

The early life of John Tackman was spent on a farm in his native prov- 
ince, and in the public schools of York county he recei\ed a fair English 
education. He was reared under excellent home influences, grew up with 
\\ell grounded habits of industry and remained with his parents until at- 
taining his majority, two years after which he accompanied them to Isabella 
county, Michigan, and settled on a tract of eighty acres in section 3, Isabella 
township, which he helped his father clear and otherwise improve. The land 
being wild and co\'ered with dense forest and much undergrowth, a great 
deal of hard labor was" required to remove these obstructions, but, strong of 
body and resolute of purpose, young Jackman addressed himself to the task 
with a will and knew not what it was to eat the bread of idleness. Being the 
only child, much of the work naturall}' fell to him and right nobly did he dis- 
charge his duty to his parents, not only assisting to clear and develop the farm, 
but in many other ways looked after their interests and ministered to their 
comfort until their respective deaths. Succeeding to the farm after they had 
passed away, he continued making imjirovements and from time to time added 
to his realty, until he now owns one hundred and eighty acres of as fine farm 
land as can be found within the borders of the county. In 1905 he built the 
brick dwelling which the family now occupy and which, with its full comple- 
ment of modern conveniences, is among the most attractive rural homes in 
Isabella township, neither money or pains having been spared to make it what 
every home should be, the most desirable place on earth to its inmates. The 
commodious bam, erected some years ago, was rebuilt and enlarged in 1909, 
and at this time compares favorably with the best similar structures through- 
out the county. Other improvements, including good outbuildings and wire 
fencing, of which there are seven hundred and sixty rods, have added not 
only to the appearance, but also to the value of the farm and the condition of 
the fields and everything on the premises indicates the presence of an up-to- 
date American farmer who believes in the dignity of honest toil and the 
nobility of the calling to which his time and energies are being devoted. 

Mr. Jackman is a Mason of high standing, holding membership with Mt. 
Pleasant Lodge No. 333, Chapter No. iii, Royal Arch Masons, at the same 
place, and for some years he has been identified with Rosebush Lodge No. 
519, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in wliich he has passed all the chairs. 
He united with the Baptist church in Canada in 1882. 

Mr. Jackman's home is presided over by a lady of intelligence and gentle 
presence, who previous to her marriage with him bore the name of Nettie 
Mendham. She was born in 1863 and is a daughter of Robert and Nancy 
(Hawkins) Mendham, natives of England and New York respectively and 



ISABFI.l.A COl'NTV. MICIIir.AN. 579 

among the early pioneers of Isabella township. Mr. Mendham was l)orn in 
1830 and died in this township in 1894, his wife, whose birth occurred the 
same year as his own, dying in 1881. Mr. and Mrs. Jackman have two chil- 
dren. William, bom August 28, 1891, was recently graduated from the Mt. 
Plea.sant high school ami at this writing is preparing to enter the University 
of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Howard, whose birth occurred in 1895, is 
pursuing his studies at the former institution, both sons being intelligent 
and studious and intent upon fitting themselves for careers of usefulness. 

In his political allegiance Mr. Jackman is a Republican, but has never 
posed as an office seeker nor aspired to public honors of any kind. He has well 
grounded convictions concerning the questions and issues before the people, 
nevertheless is liberal in his views and considerate of the feelings and opinions 
of others. .\s a neighbor and citizen he tries to do his whole duly and thus 
far his life has been fraught with much good to his fellow men. 



WILLIAM H. GRAHAM. 

Among the men of intelligence and sterling worth who contribute much 
of the moral bone and sinew of the body politic in Michigan and other states 
of the North and \\'est, a large and eminently respectable contingent hail from 
the dominion of Canada, among the number in Isabella county being Thomas 
H. Clrabam, the father of the gentleman whose name furnishes the caption 
of this article. Thomas H. Graham was born June 23, 1848, in Peel county, 
Ontario, and grew to maturity in his native country, receiving his educational 
discipline in the public schools. He was reared to agricultural pursuits and 
when a young man married Sara Baldwin, who was Ixirn in the above county 
on the 18th of January, 1846. After living in the land of his birth until 
1874, he disposed of his interests there and moved to Isabella county, Michi- 
gan, locating in the fall of that year on a tract of land in section 9, Isabella 
tiiwnshi]!, which he purchased and which in due time be cleared and ntberwise 
impnixfd. 

In earl}- life Thomas Graham was an iron moulder, which trafle he fol- 
lowed in Canada for a number of \ears, but after coming to Michigan he de- 
voted his entire attention to agriculture and met with gratifying success in 
that \ocation. The land in Isabella county which he selected for a home con- 
sisted of one hundred and twenty acres, from which he at once began to re- 
move the forest growth and by patient and continuous efifort the task was 



580 ISABL-LLA COUNTV. MICHIGAN. 

finally accomplished and a series of improvements inaugurated and in due time 
carried to completion. He gave his attention to general farming and, as indi- 
cated above, achieved marked success as a tiller of the soil, as the handsome 
competence which he accumulated attests. After placing himself in inde- 
pendent circumstances he divided the home place between two of his sons 
and moved to the forty-acre farm in section 5, which is also highly im- 
proved ; in addition thereto he owns another farm of eighty acres in the same 
township, which, like the two mentioned, is in excellent state of cultivation. 
Some idea of the labor done by him is afforded by the three splendid farms 
to wliich reference is made, a total of one hundred and sixty acres, nearly all 
of which he cleared with his own hands, removing the undergrowth and 
stumps, enclosing it with fine wire fence and adding improvements in the way 
of buildings, which rank among the best in the township, to say nothing of 
the soil, which is in excellent condition and exceedingly producti\e. Since 
moving to his present home, in 1892, he has done little active labor, con- 
tenting himself with the management of his interests while li\ing the life of 
honorable retirement which he has so nobly earned. He is still an energetic, 
wide-awake man, takes an active part in the development and progress of the 
community in which he resides and keeps in touch with all matters of public 
import. Fraternally, he is an Odd Fellow, also a member of the Knights of 
the Maccabees, politically a Democrat and his religious belief is represented 
by the Methodist Episcopal church, with which lioth himself and wife are 
identified. 

Thomas H. and Sarah Graham are the parents of eight children, whose 
names are as follows: Myra M. is the wife of David Lowry, of Isabella town- 
ship; Ernest B. whose wife was Edna Maybee; Frank, whose wife was former- 
ly Elizabeth Pitts: William H., the fourth in order of birth: Joseph H., who 
is unmarried, lives in California; John J., who married Jennie Peete; Lulu L., 
wife of Ed. Gardner, and Lowell, whose wife bore the maiden name of Tressa 
Gross. 

William H. Graham, fourth child of Thomas H. and Sarah Graham, was 
l)orn in Isabella township, where he now lives, in the month of January, 1877. 
He was reared to habits of industry and as soon as old enough for his services 
to be utilized he took his place in the woods and fields, and while still a young 
man was able to do a man's part at almost any kind of manual labor. During 
the winter months while growing up he attended the district schools and, 
though not educated in the sense that the term is usually understood, he 
nevertheless possesses a valuable practical knowledge such as colleges and uni- 
A'ersities fail to impart and by reading and observation has become an intelli- 
gent and widely informed man. 



ISABliLLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 581 

Mr. Graliam. at the age of twcnty-tlirce. l>c'i,^'m life fur himself on the 
family homestead, which he has since operated, purchasing his brother's inter- 
est in the place some years ago and becoming sole owner. He has made a 
close and critical study of agricultural science, understands the nature and 
adaptability of soils and by applying his knowledge of practical ends has met 
with encoin-aging success in his chosen calling, occupying at this time a place 
in the front rank of Tsal)ella county's representative farmers. Since taking 
possession of his farm, be has added a number of improvements, including the 
remodeling of the residence, the erection of a fine barn, forty by eighty-one 
feet in size, and putting up n:any rods of fencing, besides beautifving the same 
so that his home is now among the most valuable and desirable in the section 
of country where it is situated. 

On October 14, 190J. Mr, Graham entered the marriage relation with 
Ida Byron, who was Ikihi May 24. i8<S3. and who departed this life in De- 
cember, 1908, leaving, besides a husband, two children and a host of friends 
to mourn her untimely loss Chester D., the older of the children. \\;is born 
August 23, 1903: the younger, a daughter who answers to the name of 
F.loida M., was born on December 19. 1906. 



WILSOX CHESTER PERKINS. 

The enterprising business man whose name introduces this sketch is a 
leading citizen of Winn. Michigan, and since moving to the town has been 
untiring in his efforts to promote the matters of interest of the same and 
give it publicity as a desirable place of residence, a fine business point and a 
favorable locality for the judicious investing of capital. W. C. Perkins is a 
native of Lenawee coimty. Michigan, born in the town of Hudson on April 
19, 1869. His father. Chester J. Perkins, came to Michigan a number of 
years ago from New York and settled in Lenawee county where, in due time, 
he married Charity Smith, later, about 1872. moving to St. Louis, this state, 
and from that town, in 1874. to Isabella county, of which he is still a resident. 

Wilson Chester Perkins was three years old when his parents moved to 
St. Louis and fi\e when they transferred their residence to Isabella county. 
After spending the ensuing se\en years in Coe township, he went to Gratiot 
county, where he remained fifteen years, during a part of which period he 
studied pharmacy, having previously obtained a good literary education, 
graduating from the Alma liigh school with a creditable record as a student. 



582 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Ha\'ing decided to make the drug business his vocation, he devoted two years 
to the study of the same at Alma and Ithaca and for three years was in drug 
stores at the latter place and Ashley, making rapid progress and in due time 
acquiring a thorough knowledge of the profession. 

In 1896, Air. Perkins establislied a drug business at Winn, which from 
the beginning was very successful, more than meeting his expectations and 
gaining for him a prominent place among the leading business men of the 
town. His establishment, one of the largest of the kind in the county, was 
stocked with every line of merchandise found in first class drug houses and in 
the management of the same Mr. Perkins displayed business and executive 
ability of a high order while his proficiency in pharmacy drew to him an ex- 
tensive patronage in that line, and gave him wide publicity as a skillful and 
accomplished druggist. On the 5th of September, 1910, Mr. Perkins sold 
this business to O. J. Baker and engaged in the general mercantile business, 
embracing dry goods, groceries, etc., under the firm name of \\'. C. Perkins 
& Company. 

As indicated in a preceding paragraph, Mr. Perkins is an intelligent and 
enterprising man of affairs whose interest in the growth of his town is second 
to that of none of his fellow citizens and who has left nothing undone to pro- 
mote the material prosperity of the community. To him more than to any 
other man jjekjugs the credit of establishing various public utilities, including 
among others, the telephone from Shepherd to Winn, to the furtherance of 
which enterprise he devoted his time and energies until a sufficient number of 
subscriptions were procured to justify the management in extending the line 
between the two places and establishing a local exchange at the latter. The 
Winn Rural Telephone Company, which has been doing business about three 
years, operates one of the best lines in the state, the management being in the 
hands of capable and thoroughly reliable business men and the patronage in- 
cluding all of the best citizens of the towns where exchanges are maintained 
and along the various lines. 

Mr. Perkins was married on the 5th day of October, 1895, to Almina 
Miller, who was born in Gratiot county, this state, October 23, 1876, the union 
being blessed with one child. Leon Chester, whose birth occurred Decemlier 
19, 1902. Mr. Perkins takes a [jardonable pride in the large business which 
he now commands, and the establishment of which he is the head is certainly 
a credit to himself and decidedly a valuable asset to the commercial interests 
of the town. He is an influential worker in several secret fraternal societies, 
being a member of Cedar Valley Lodge No. 383, Free and Accepted Masons, 
whicli he ser\-ed one term as secretary; is identified with the Knights of the 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 583 

Maccabees at Winn: the IndepciuleiU Order of Odd Felluws at the same 
place, and fornierl\- l)eIonged to the Knights of Pythias lodge at Ashley, though 
not connected with the organization at the present time. Interested in all that 
pertains to the general welfare of the community and keeping in touch with 
the times on matters o{ public import, he wields a strong intluence for good, 
and as a business man, neighbor and citizen, is held in very high esteem. 



JOHN BOETTNER. 

Holding distinctive prestige among the enterprising agriculturists of 
Deerfield township, Isabella county, is John Boettner, whose record here briefly 
outlined is that of a self-made man who, by the exercise of talents with which 
nature endowed him, has successfully surmounted the obstacles encountered 
in his earlier years and risen to a position as one of the substantial and in- 
fluential men of the community honored by his residence. He is a verv' credit- 
able representati\'e of that large class of German citizens who ha\-e taken uj) 
their residence in this country, possessing many of the admiral)le c|ualities and 
characteristics of tliat sturdy race that has done so much in the general de- 
velopment of our various states. 

Mr. Boettner was born in the village of Erbenhausen, Hessen, Germany. 
September ii. 1858. He grew to maturity there, went to school eight years, 
and assisted his father with his work, thus assisting to supjjort the family. 
The father dying when John was nine years of age, nuicJi responsibility was 
thrown u])on him. This was one of the reasons why he did not enlist in t'le 
regular army, but he trained for a time and would have been subject to being 
called out in case of war. Wiien John left his parental roof-tree, his two 
brothers did the work at home. His mother died when he was one day old 
and the father married again. Before coming to America John Boettner 
worked on a farm eight or nine years as a farm hand. Having relatives in 
America and desiring to see our country he emigrated to our shores, but not 
with the intention of remaining permanently. He reached Xew ^'ork on 
May 3, 1884, and soon \isited his relatives in Elkhart, reiuaining there the fol- 
lowing summer and finally decided to remain in the United States, so he hired 
out on a farm near Elkhart, remaining there one year. His friend, Peter 
Gruss, whose sketch appears in this work, was then living in Isabella county. 
Michigan, and in\iting Mr. P)(iettner to \isit him. he did so. This country 
was then practically a wddcrness, but he liketl it and has never desired to 



1^84 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

change his place of residence, for he saw that it was large in opportunities 
for young men. He was then twenty-seven years of age. He purchased 
forty acres for eight hundred dollars, all of which was wooded but four 
acres, the road passing this place had just been made, later Mr. Boettner 
assisted a great deal in building roads in this vicinity. He now owns eighty 
acres, the other forty having been purchased in 1894. It is all good land and 
raises excellent crops under his skillful management. 

After deciding to make his future home in America, Mr. Boettner sent 
for his sweetheart and they were married in this country on May 30, 1885. 
Her maiden name was Christina Altheino, who was born in Germany Septem- 
ber 16, 1864. This union has resulted in the birth of the following children: 
Anne, who graduated from the State Normal School at ^^It. Pleasant; Eliza- 
beth, Mary, John and Hilda. 

Mr. Boettner has made all the improvements on his place, building a 
large, convenient and comfortable dwelling, two stories and a cellar, also a 
large barn with a cement basement under its entire extent. His fields are 
free from stumps and rocks and his land is in first-class condition and has 
been well kept and is substantially fenced, with woven wire for the most 
part. He has sixty-five acres under cultivation, the rest being in pasture, 
with a wood-lot of ten acres. He has been very successful raising stock, 
especially hogs, which he prepares for the market. 

Both he and his wife belong to the Gleaners arbor at Deerfield. They 
belong to the Lutheran church at Bloomfield, and he has held some of the 
church offices. Politically he is a Republican. He was school treasurer for 
nine years and assisted in building a new school house in this district. He 
was elected justice of the peace and served in this capacity very acceptably 
for a period of four years, also sen-ed as highway commissioner one term 
and school inspector one term. He was chairman of the committee that se- 
cured the first free rural delivery route through from Mt. Pleasant, route No. 
I ; he worked very hard for this and was also instrumental in securing tele- 
phones for the farmers in this \icinity, he having assisted in securing a certain 
number of subscribers in order to get the enterprise started. He is a memlier 
of the Farmers' Club, having for its object the protection of the interests of 
its members and for the promotion of enterprises in the township. But he is 
not so acti\e in political matters as formerly, though he stands ready to do 
anything to promote the general good. He has modern farming machinery, 
and he is now planning extensive improvements on his place. He has been 
very successful. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 585 

OSCAR SMITH. 

Oscar Smith was bom May 6. 1855, in Eaton county. Micliigan, and 
grew to maturity on his father's farm, with the rugged duties of which he 
early became famihar. lie oljtaincd a pubhc school education and remained 
at home until his twenty-third year, working at intervals, the meanwhile, at 
any kind of honest labor he could find, but devoting the greater part of the 
time to the home farm. In 1878 he married the young ladyof his choice 
whose name was Lo\-inia I''a\orite, and wlm, like himself, was a native of 
Eaton county, her home at the time she became his wife l^eing at the town of 
Brookfield. Her mother. Mrs. Maiy Favorite, was seventy-one years old at 
the time of her death, which occurred on April 15, 191 1. Shortly after his 
marriage Mr, Smith moved to Lake Odessa, a new town which had ju.st been 
laid out, where for about six years he was variously employed, working at odd 
jobs, hauling building material and doing general teaming. Before locating 
at the above place, he had purchased a small tract of land near Brookfield, 
w hicli increased rapidly in value w ith the growth of the latter town and which 
he sold at a handsome profit a short time prior to transferring his residence 
to Lake Odessa. 

Disposing of his interests in that place at the expiration of the |)eriod 
indicated. Mr. Smith moved to Isabella county and bought from a lumber 
company eighty acres of land in Fremont townshi]). the first growth of which 
had been cut off. leaving the stumjis. trash and undergrowth, which required 
a great deal of hard labor to remove. With his characteristic energy, how- 
ever, he addressed himself to the task and in the course of a few years the 
obstructions disappeared and the virgin soil was in condition for tillage. Xot 
long after moving to the nev.- home, Mrs. Smith became quite ill and that she 
might have the treatment she so much needed her husband took her to the 
home of her parents, where, under the tender care and loving ministraticjn of 
her mother, she gradually recovered her accustomed health and strength and 
in due time returned to her husband with health fully restored. During her 
absence Mr. Smith lixed by himself and at times was very lonely, but hard 
labor being the best panacea for such a condition, he applied himself very 
diligently and by the time she was ready to return he had a goodly part of 
his farm ready for tillage and a number of improvements made. 

Mr. Smith has sixty ai his eighty acres in cultivation and his improve- 
ments are among the l)est in the neighborhood. The farm occupies a part 
of an elevated tract of land from which a s])lendid view of the surrounding 
country for many miles can be obtained, for which reason he calls his place 



586 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

"Fairview Farm," certainly a very appropriate name, as all who see it readily 
admit. Recently he erected a large barn, forty by sixty feet in size, with base- 
ment under the entire structure, this with a comfortable dwelling, good out- 
buildings, substantial wire fences and various other improvements, adding 
greatly to the appearance and value of the farm and making it a home of 
which he feels deservedly proud, representing as it does the labor of his own 
hands. The first year of his marriage, Mr. Smith went to Kansas with the 
object of locating in that state, but the country not meeting his expectations, 
he returned after a few months, satisfied with his brief e.xperience in the 
West. He is now well situated to enjoy the many material blessings with 
which he has surrounded himself and family and his present intention is to 
spend the remainder of his days at the pleasant home which he now occupies. 
He votes the Republican ticket, but is not a very active politician, neither has 
he any amljition to gratify in the way of holding ofiice; nevertheless, he 
served his township nine years as school director, and proved a capable and 
judicious puljlic servant. 

Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two children. Ira, who is married to I\a Riggles 
and lives in Fremont township, and William, who is unmarried and a citizen 
of Jackson township, both being farmers and greatly esteemed in their re- 
spective places of residence. 



PETER GRUSS. 



Hard and laborious effort was the lot of Peter Gruss during his youth and 
early manhood, but his fidelity to duty won him the respect and confidence of 
those with whom he was thrown in contact and by patient continuance in well 
doing he gradually arose from an humble station to his present high standing 
among the leading farmers of Isabella county. .Always giving his personal 
attention to his various industries with the same energy and foresight that 
have characterized his labors during his busy and honorable career and having 
every dollar in his possession as the result of honest effort, and that, too, in the 
face of opposing obstacles and not a few adverse circumstances, he can with- 
out ostentation lay claim to the proud American title of self-made man. al- 
though Mr. Gruss is an American by adoption only, his birth having occurred 
in Germany on June 29. 1854, in Brusse. He grew to maturity in the father- 
land and obtained his education there. Believing that larger opportunities 
awaited one of his inclination in the United States, he emigrated to our shores 
when twenty-eight years of age, locating at Grand Rapids, Michigan. Be- 



ISABKI.I.A COUNTV. MlCillGAX. 587 

fore leaving his native land lie had ser\ed three years in the army of the empire 
and had learned the butcher's trade, and, as stated, having received a good 
education he was well equipped to take up his work in this country and it was 
not long until he had a good start. He was brought up in a \illage, but he had 
the opportunity of learning the butcher business in a city, and he worked at 
the same until he was twenty }-ears of age. then went into the army, which is 
the custom in Germany. He was a soldier from 1875 to 1878. His sister's 
husband dying after the subject left the army, he took charge of his business, 
that of a hotel-kecjjer. and conducted it \ery successfully. He stayed at Grand 
Rapids, Michigan, two years. Not liking the tratle of butcher in .\merica, 
he took to farming. In the fall of 1SS4 he returned to (jerman)- anil came 
back to .\merica in the spring of 1885, working for his former employer near 
C>rand Rapids. On January 13, 1885, while living in Grand Rapids, he was 
married to Anna Theisen, who was born Dcccmlier 8. 1863. in Germany, the 
daughter of Nicholas and Kate 'riicisen. She was four years old when her 
parents brought her to Big Rapids, but she niet Mr. Gruss in (irand Rapids, 
whither she had later moved. This union has resulted in the birth (if the 
following children: F.lizabeth. bom September 20. 1888: Emma, born March 
9, i8go: Joseph, born April (\ 1891 ; Frederick, born July 31, 1893: Frank, 
born January 9. 1895: Margaret, born August 6. 1897: Marie, born July 6, 
1900. The oldest child, a son. died when one year nld, in the fall of 1886. 
The alx)ve named children are all single and are living at h(ime. excepting 
Elizabeth, who was married November 8. 19 10. 

After his marriage Mr. Gruss li\ed in (Irand Rapids two weeks, moving 
to his present place on January 28, 1885. He bought eighty acres, for which 
he paid twelve hundred and fifty dollars. This was timbered land and he ha.s 
had plenty to do in clearing and de\cloi)ing it, but he has now one of the 
best impro\ed places in the township, lie has since added to his original 
purchase as he has prospered, first, fortv acres, later ten acres, all adjoining. 
.At present he has about fifteen acres in the woods. He has almost every kind 
of fruit known in this latitude, but none in large ([uantities. He raises a 
great deal of wheat, which, under his skillful management, axerages a yield 
of twenty-five bushels per acre. He has built a sulistantial and convenient 
house, with a good cellar, a large and well arranged barn with a basement, also 
built tool shed, sheep pen, granary and many other outbuildings and general 
improvements. He keeps some good stock of various kinds and is a very 
successful farmer and stock raiser. He uses up-to-date farming implements, 
has a good wind-mill, and he usually feeds cattle in the winter, selling them 
in the spring. 



588 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

]\Ir. Gruss is a member of the Catholic church at Beal City, was a mem- 
ber of the church committee three or four years. He was pathmaster for two 
terms and has held some of the school offices, though he is not an office seeker, 
caring but little for public positions. Politically he is a Democrat, but he 
usually votes for the best man. 

The subject's father, P'eter Gruss, was born in Germany in 1813. He 
married Elizabeth Weiber. who was born in the same neighborhood in 182^. 
The father's death occurred in 1905. having survived his wife twenty years, 
her death having occurred in 1885. They spent their entire lives in Germany 
Avhere the rest of the subject's relatives reside. 



WILLIAM H. MOODY. 

The subject of this Ijrief biographical mention was born May 13, 1838, 
in Washtenaw county, Michigan, and has spent his life within the limits of 
his native state. In 1841, when three years old, he was taken to Eaton county 
by his parents where he grew to maturity amid the invigorating breezes and 
wholesome discipline of rural life, the meanwhile doing his proportionate 
share of the farm work, and attending the schools of the locality as oppor- 
tunities afforded. Reared to habits of industry and early impressed with the 
idea that idleness is almost equivalent to crime, he reached the age of young 
manhood with proper conceptions of life and well founded plans for his future 
course of action. Accustomed to farm labor from his youth, he chose agri- 
culture for his vocation, and on attaining his majority engaged in the same 
in Eaton county where he continued to reside until his removal, in 1879, to 
the county of Isabella. On coming to this part of the state Mr. Moody pur- 
chased the tract of land in Rolland township where he has since lived, a part 
of which he has improved in the meantime and established a comfortable and 
attractive homestead. He has been a diligent worker and a good manager 
and the one hundred and twenty acres of valuable land now in his possession 
represents the labor of his own hands. 

Mr. Moody has held various offices in his township from time to time, 
in which he displayed sound judgment and a commendable interest in the wel- 
fare of the public, and aside from these he has always given his aid and in- 
fluence to all worthy measures for the advancement of the community and the 
good of his fellow men. His neighbors esteem him highly for his many 
sterling ciualities and in all the elements of honorable manhood and citizenship 
he stands a worthy example. 



ISABFLLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 589 

While a resident of Eat(5n couiit\. Mr. Moody married tlie lady of his 
choice, who Iwre the maiden name of Rachel Doxsie. and whose l)irth occurred 
in that part of the state on the uth day of April, 1841. Tlie family of this 
worthy couple originally consisted of five children, all hut one living, their 
names heing as follows: Charles; Efclda, wife of William Delo: .\nsel L. and 
Clarence E.. the last two mentioned elsewhere in these pages; Stephen, the 
second in order of birth, died some time ago in Fremont townshij). this county. 

Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Moody are members of the Methodist E])iscopal 
church and zealous in the \arious lines of work under the aus])ices of the local 
society with which identified. He possesses much more than ordinary ability 
as a public speaker, which with his activity and zeal has been the means of 
causing many to repent of their sins and seek the better life. 



PERRY H. ESTEE. SR. 

This biographical memoir has to do with a character of unusual force and 
eminence, for Perry H. Estee. Sr.. whose life chapter has been closed by the 
fate that awaits all mankind, was for a long lapse of years one of the prom- 
inent men of Isabella county. ha\ing come to this section among the earliest 
of the pioneers. — in fact he is supposed to have been here before the Indians 
made this their place of abode, by some two years, and he had the honor of 
placing the center stake on the site of the present thriving city of Mt. Pleas- 
ant, for while he was not a surveyor by profession he occasionally followed 
that line of work. He was present at both the noted treaties of Dogtown. 
He assisted in every way possible in bringing about the transformation of the 
county, especially Coe townshi]). where he maintained his home, from the 
wild condition which he found upon his advent here to its later day progress 
and improvement. While he carried on his chosen line of endeavor in such 
a manner as to gain a comfortable competence for himself, he also belonged 
to that class of representative citizens who promote the public welfare while 
promoting individual success. There were in him sterling traits which com- 
manded unboundetl confidence and reganl, and his memory is today honored 
by all who knew him and is enshrined in the hearts of his many friends. 

Perry H. Estee. Sr., who was named by his parents Oliver Hazard 
Perry, after the great na\al commander on the Great Lakes during the war 
of 1812. changed his name himself to Perry H. when he grew up. He was 
born in \\'ater Valley, Erie county, New York, on September 9. 1824. the 



590 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

son of Silas and Mary (Hodge) Estee, who were among the very first families 
to emigrate to Coe township, this county. The father died when the subject 
was seventeen years of age and the latter started in life for himself. He had 
the advantage of a very good education and he taught school for three terms 
in New York state. In Chautauqua count}-, that state, he bought one hun- 
dred acres of land. After farming five years he sold his place and emigrated 
to Iowa. Mr. Estee and a party of men were coming into Isabella county, 
Michigan, to settle and they were met in the northern part of Clinton county 
by seventeen men who were returning from Isabella county, who informed 
the immigrants that all the land in Isabella county was good, advising them 
to lose no time in getting possession of some of the land there before it was 
all taken. One of the party of seventeen produced a plat of Coe township 
and advised Mr. Estee to take up a certain tract at once ; he hastened back to 
the land office, a distance of sixteen miles, and selected the northeast cjuarter 
of section i8, Coe township. Two days later found him camped on the 
banks of Salt river in Isabella county. The following day he and his travel- 
ing companions examined their land, and for their supper that night they 
had but one water biscuit apiece. They later returned to Erie countv, Xew 
York, where Mr. Estee taught school one year, after which he returned to 
his land in Isabella county and cut the first tree in the section on which he 
located, his nearest neighbor being a mile distant. Mr. Estee assisted in the 
erection of the first frame building of the county, the saw mill of John Rey- 
nolds, in section 9, Coe township. He became very successful, owning one 
hundred and fifty-four acres at one time and eighty-four at the time of his 
death, which was equally di\ided between his son, Perry H., Jr., whose sketch 
appears herein, and a daughter. He took the first assessment of the county, 
and he was the second supervisor of Coe township, which was the first town- 
ship organized in the county. 

Mr. Estee was a member of the state constitutional convention in 1867. 
He was judge of the probate court four years, and was the first township 
clerk of Coe township. He was justice of the peace for eight years. He was 
an Abolitionist, and after the organization of the county he was a Republi- 
can. As a public servant he did a great deal of good, being a man of ability 
and watchful in discharging his duties to the general good, and he won the 
confidence, the esteem and hearty commendation of his constituents and all 
concerned. He was a man of the people, broad-minded, alert, and capable. 

Mr. Estee was married in Eden, Erie county, New York, on October 24, 
1848, to Carrie Dole, who was born in Eden, September 13, 1825, and this 
union resulted in the birth of these children : Linus D., Mary E., Hattie. Free 
and Perry H., Jr. 



ISABKLLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 59I 

Mr. Estee. as stated above, was a very important factor in the affairs of 
Isabella county in the early days of its history, politically and industrially, 
and was highly respected by all classes. The death of this excellent citizen 
occurred March 31. 1907, his wife, a woman of beautiful attributes, dying 
May 13. 1901. 



ALFRED LITTLE. 



This worth}- old pioneer is one of the none too numerous cinniecting links 
between the jjresent and that picturesque period now almost buried in the mists 
of the past. He has been a witness of Isabella county's development from the 
virgin forest to its present prosperous condition. Homes and villages have 
sprung u]) on every hand since he first saw the county: forests have disap- 
peared before the axe wielded by the strong arm of the woodsman : farms, 
with fertile, well tilled fields, fine orchards, comfortable buildings, and all 
the adjuncts of civilization, have taken the place of the tangled wilderness 
which sheltered numerous beasts of prey and the painted Indian. L'seless to 
add. he has taken no small part in the development of this locality. 

Alfred Little was born on Noveml^er 3. 1844. in Wayne county. Ohio, 
where he remained until he was ten years of age, but most of his life has been 
spent in Isabella county, Michigan, his residence now being in Denver town- 
ship. His father, John Little, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1813, and re- 
mained there until after his marriage to Catherine Smith, who was born in 
the same neighborhood in Pennsylvania, in 181 5. The father followed team- 
ing in his native county, also after his removal to Ohio. They remained in 
the latter state several years, then came to Ionia county, Michigan, having 
made the long journey overland by team in typical pioneer fashion. The present 
large city of Lansing was at that time unthought of, the site of that city then 
being a field of stumps; the following year the railroad was built to Ionia. 
The father bought eighty acres at first, for which he paid four iumdred dollars. 
It was good land and he established a very comfortable home here in time. 
When the hnmestend law bev ame effective, he secured eighty acres more, this 
being swamp land. He rented a place of one hundred and ninety-eight acres, 
later buying the same, paying the sum of four thousand and five hundred dol- 
lars for the land, tools and crops. The following year his two oldest sons 
went to war, leaving four sons at home who assisted with the farm work. 
The parents died on this place, the mother's death occurring about 1886 and 
the father about 1895. he reaching an advanced age. He was an honest and 
kind-hearted man whom evervlwdv liked. 



592 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

The children sold the farm at a fairly good profit, receiving fifteen hun- 
dred dollars more than he gave for it. His family consisted of the following 
children : Andrew is living at Belding, Michigan ; Margaret lives in Montcalm 
county, this state ; William lives in Denver township, this county : Dorothy 
lives in Belding, Michigan; Alfred, of this re\iew. 

Alfred Little received his education in the public schools of his native 
community in Ohio and Ionia county, Michigan, working on the home farm 
during the summer months, and remaining there until he got a start in life, 
or for a period of twenty-eight years. When he was thirty-three years of age 
he was married to Ellen Rock, in Palo, Ionia county, on January 20, 1877. 
She was born in 1853 in Shiawassee county, ^Michigan, and accompanied her 
brothers to Ionia county when young. 

Mr. Little remained on the home place until he purchased the farm where 
he now resides. His brother came to this county with him. Alfred bought 
eighty acres, all in timber with the exception of seven or eight acres, for 
which he paid eleven hundred and fifty dollars, cleared all the lantl himself, 
built a barn thirty-six by fifty feet, also built several sheds and made many 
substantial improvements. He works about fifty-five acres, has twenty acres 
of woods, and he raises principally corn and beans. He keeps horses, cows 
and sheep and has a good place and comfortable home. 

Politically, Mr. Little is a Democrat. He has served very ably as town- 
ship treasurer for nine years, and as justice of the peace for four years. 



EXCHANGE SAVINGS BANK. 

A bank means something more to a community than simply a medium of 
exchange. The convenience afforded the public by a banking institution is 
only one of its many functions. It is, in a real sense, an educator, a counselor 
and a friend. When one chooses his banking home, he does wisely when he 
thinks over the character and motives of the men with whom he will come 
in close contact while transacting his ordinary commercial business with the 
institution. No man is a complete tower of strength unto himself as he 
passes along the highways of industry in this world. He is strengthened or 
weakened by his associates, and there always comes a time when friendly 
counsel will be valuable to him. In performing the function of a business 
friend the banker is filling his most important place in the community. 

One of the most popular and sound institutions of the state of Michigan 




-iSP^*!^ 



KXCHANtJE SAVlNCiS HANK, MI HLKASAN r, MU IllGAN 



ISABEI-LA COUNTY. MICHIGAN'. 593 

is the Exchange Savings Bank of Mt. I'ieasant, and tlie good it has done 
Isabella county is far-reaching and inestimal)Ic, as it has maintained a splendid 
record for a period of upwards of thirty years, gaining a \ery solid standing 
in the commercial and financial world. It has l)een conducted in a safe 
and conservative manner, so as to gain and retain the unfunded confidence 
of the people, having thrown around its patrons every possible safeguard 
and has \ieeu up-to-date in all its business methods. This bank was first 
established as a private enterprise in 1881 by G. .\. Dusenbury & Company, 
the members of tlie lirm being George A. and William C. Dusenbury. and 
operated by them until 18S8, when it was succeeded by Dusenbury. Xelson 
& Company, that firm consisting of George A. Dusenbury, William C. Dusen- 
bury, Levi X. Smith, John Kinney and D. H. Xelson, which firm continued 
as a private institution, but adopted the name of Exchange Bank, in May, 
1894, the E.xchange Savings Bank was organized and incorporated under the 
laws of the state, succeeding to the business of Dusenbury, X'elson & Com- 
pany, its first ofificers being Douglas H. Xelson. president ; John Kinney and 
L. X. Smith, vice-presidents; George A. Dusenbury, cashier: William C. 
Dusenbury. assistant cashier. The officials of this bank continued to change 
from time to time until, upon the death of George A. Duscnlnu-y, on Septem- 
ber 22, 1905. .\rwin E. (iorham (a complete sketch of wiiom ai)pears else- 
where in this work) was elected president. The capital stock at that time 
was fifty thousand dollars, witli a surplus and undivided profits of fifteen 
thousand dollars. Under the able, conscientious and judicious management 
of Mr. Gorham and his associates, it has gradually increased in all its depart- 
ments. Besides Mr. Gorham, the other ofificers of the bank in 191 1 are as 
follows : Charles T. Grawn and Frank B. Whitehead, vice-presidents : Ches- 
ter A. Kellogg, cashier: Chester W. Riches, assistant cashier: Ella L. Frazer, 
assistant cashier, savings department: directors. C. M. Brooks. William E. 
Lewis. .A. E. Gorham. C. T. Grawn. Frank B. Whitehead. I>ancis McXamara 
and C. A. Kellogg. L'p to 1909 the bank remained in its old building, when 
new and more commodious quarters were planned, and an elegant, substantial, 
modem and attractive building was erected, thoroughly equipped. The bank 
moved into its new i|uarters in June, 1909. The management planned, in 
arranging the new building, to meet the needs of both employes and custom- 
ers, and have succeeded in meeting all the requirements of a tidy, convenient 
and attractive banking ofifice, cozy at all seasons, having been quite solicitious 
with regard to the homelikcness of every appointment. Here business men 
who can waste no time find an air of prompt business methods which ought 
to satisfy their ideals. l)ut at the same time the management wishes to engen- 
(38) 



594 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

del" a feeling in all of its patrons tiiat every employee, as well as every appoint- 
ment, has in mind the comfort and happiness of all who make these offices 
their banking home. 

Among the conveniences of this banking house which are worthy of 
specific notation are the safety deposit boxes; the ladies' room, ecjuipped with 
every convenience ; the men's room, for purposes of writing, consultation, 
etc. ; telephones, writing tables, equipped with stationery, etc. ; a notary public 
always 'at hand in connection with the acknowledgment of papers, and every 
employee is instructed to be, in a sense, an information bureau ready to assist 
any patron of the bank in any possible way. The commercial department of 
this institution offers as liberal terms as are consistent with the principles of 
conser\ati\e banking, makes loans on approved securities, discounts commer- 
cial paper, buys and sells exchange and gives especial attention to collections. 
This bank has an exclusive savings department, for handling savings deposits 
and certificates of deposit. This money is loaned exclusivelv on bonds and 
mortgages, on property worth at least twice the amount loaned and which 
is set apart, under the law, for the protection of savings depositors, whose 
interests this bank has jealously guarded. Lady customers having business 
with this department will find a courteous attendant in charge and can be 
waited on at a window opening into the ladies' room, a special feature, with 
every convenience, for the accommodation of lady customers. Special pains 
are taken to make this department attractive to the little people, and, in a 
sense, schooling is given to those who desire to know how to do banking busi- 
ness correctly, and every opportunity is given them to learn the principles of 
banking as ap]3lied to the duties of this depository. In this department drafts 
are bought and sold on the leading foreign cities of the world, having arrange- 
ments by which this bank's own drafts are drawn direct. Corporation statis- 
tics and financial papers are always on file and at the service of the depositors, 
as is also any data or knowledge the management and employees may possess 
on financial subjects, not held confidentially. Here is to be found two custom- 
ers' rooms, equipped with easy cliairs, writing desks and telephones, solely for 
the use of the patrons of this bank, for in planning and equipping the new 
building the purpose of the management has been not merely to give them- 
selves a better home but to provide more convenient and attractive quarters 
for the patrons of the bank and to erect a building which would be an archi- 
tectural addition to Mt. Pleasant. 

Following is a condensed statement of the business of the Exchange 
Savings Bank, which is criterion enough of its standing in the financial 
world: Resources: Loans and discounts, $201,315.26; bonds and mort- 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAX. 595 

gages, $163,188.50; banking liouse and fixtures, $16,000.00; overdrafts, 
$1,059.10: in transit, $5,244.66: cash in vault. $32,670.98: cash in reserve 
banks, $90,613.15: total, $510,091.65. Liabilities: Capital and surplus, 
$75,500.00: undivided profits, $3,516.05: deposits, S431.075.60; total, 
$510,091.65. 

The Exchange Savings Bank is the oldest financial institution of Isabella 
C(.iunty, and its intluence in the upbuilding of this locality cannot be estimated. 
It is in the market at all times for good loans, and makes a specialty of loaning 
its funds on Isabella county real estate, where the security is ample, and loans 
to school districts, the constant aim of the management being to throw around 
each loan every safeguard consistent with sound and conser\ative banking. 
This institution has greatly aided saving people whose deposits are received 
and interest i)aid upon them. The Exchange Savings Bank has certainly 
contributed her full share toward placing Isaljella county in a very enviable 
position with the outside world in regard to her importance and prosperity. 



JOHN B. WEST. 

The subject of this sketch, who is the oldest son of William and Mary 
Ann (Hennessey) West, was born November 19, 1875, in St. Mary's, On- 
tario, and since his fifth year has been living in Isabella township. Isabella 
county. Michigan. l)eing at this time one of the leading citizens of the town- 
ship in which he resides. Like all boys reared amid the inspiring scenes of 
country life, he early became acquainted with the active duties of the farm, 
attended school during the winter months and grew up strong of body and 
with a well defined purpose to make the most of his opportunities so as to 
become of some use in the world. He assisted in the cultivation of the home 
farm during his youthful years and on attaining his maturity engaged in the 
pursuit of agriculture for himself, though it was not until 1900 that he ])ur- 
chased his present farm in .section 18. Isabella township, and began tilling the 
.soil upon a more extensive scale. 

Mr. West's farm consists of eighty acres of very fine land which he has 
reduce<l to a high state of cultivation and improved with goml buildings, in- 
cluding a barn, thirty-six by .seventy-two feet in size, a comfortable modern 
residence, with the usual coineniences, and various outbuildings, the place 
being enclosed and .subdivided with wire fences and well drained. While 
engaged in general farming, he gives special attention to grain and hay, of 



C^gS ISABFLLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

which he grows large crops every year, and he is also interested in live stock, 
which branch of farming he finds quite remunerative and satisfactory. Mr. 
West uses the best modern implements and machinery and by carefully fol- 
lowing the most approved methods of tillage is sure of large and satisfactory 
returns from his labors. His financial success has been commensurate with 
the interest and energy which he has ever displayed and he is today the pos- 
sessor of a beautiful and desirable home and sufficient means to maintain him- 
self and family in comfort and to provide for the future welfare of his 
children. 

Mr. West is public spirited, takes pride in the development and growth 
of his township and county and lends his influence to all enterprises and meas- 
ures having for their end the material prosperity of the community and the 
general good of his fellow men. A Democrat on state and national issues, he 
is not lx)und by party in local affairs, where he gives his support to the 
candidate best qualified for the office to which he aspires. Fraternally he is 
an active member of the Knights of the Maccabees, and religiously is a 
Roman Catholic, belonging with his family to St. Henry's church, Vernon. 

Mr. West, on the i6th day of October, 1901, was married to Margaret 
Lawler, daughter of James and Catherine (Pierson) Lawler, both parents 
natives of Canada, the father born in 1847, the mother in the year 1846. Mr. 
Lawler died in 1906 and his widow now resides in Denver township, this 
county. Mrs. West was born June 19, 1873, and her marriage has been 
blessed with four children, Leo, Bernard, George and Helen. 



JOSEPH A. GRAHAM. 

The gentleman of whom the biographer writes in this connection is a 
native of Canada and a son of Andrew and Maria Graham, the former born 
in May, 1810, in Ireland, the latter in the year 1818 in the city of Toronto, 
Ontario. These parents were married in the latter country and there spent the 
greater part of their lives, the mother dying in 1875. t'l^ father in 1880. 
Joseph A. Graham first saw the light of day at Toronto in the year 1838, and 
spent his boyhood in his native city, receiving his preliminary education in 
the schools of the same, later pursuing his studies for some time in Buffalo, 
New York. After being graduated from the Bryant & Stratton Commercial 
College in the latter place, he turned his attention to educational work and 
for a period of fifteen years taught school at different places and for two years 
was bookkeeper for a business firm in the city of Toronto. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 597 

In 1875 Mr. (irahani came to Isabella county. Michigan, and purchasing 
the northwest quarter of section 15, Isabella township, at once addressed him- 
self to tlie clearing and improving of his land, working on the same during 
the spring and summer and part of the fall months and devoting the winter 
season to teaching in the district schools. By energetic and well directed 
effort, lie finally reduced the greater part of his land to cultivation and by mak- 
ing im])ro\'ements from time to time added greatly to the \alue and attractive- 
ness of a farm which is now not only among the most productive in tlie town- 
ship, but is also one of the most beautiful and desirable country homes of the 
community in which it is situated. 

Mr. Ciraham brought to his vocation a well disciplined mind and by 
reason of his intelligence he has long held a position of influence among his 
neighbors and fellow citizens. For a period of six years he was official sur- 
veyor of Isabella county, tlie duties of which position he discharged in an 
able and signally creditable manner and served his township two years as 
clerk, besides holding various school offices and doing much to promote the 
cause of education in his own and other parts of the country. He was 
originallv a Re])ublican in ])olitics. but I)ecoming disappointed with the i)olicies 
of the party and with its failure to redeem certain pledges made to the peo])le, 
he severed his connection therewith and for some years has voted with the 
opposition, being at this time one of the leading Democrats of Isabella town- 
ship and an influential factor in the cause wliich he advocates and sujjports. 
Widely informed on the cjuestions and issues of the times, he has well grounded 
convictions concerning the same and, though not narrowly partisan, he is 
firm in the defense of his opinions, but allows others the same rights of private 
judgment which he claims for bim.self. Fraternally he is a member of Lodge 
No. 305, Free and Accepted Masons, at Mt. Pleasant, and. though not identi- 
fied with any religious organization, he has great respect for the church and 
is a liberal contributor to tiie Methodist Episcopal society which he and 
his wife attend. 

Mary .Ann Graham, who became the wife of the subject in 1882, was 
born November 18. 1838, and is the mother of three children, Hugh A., Fred 
and Catherine E.. the first two residents of Isal)ella county and esteemed by all 
who know them. Hugh .\. Graham, whose birth occurred on January 28. 
1863, married Effie Elwell and lives in Mt. Pleasant. He is an intelligent and 
well educated gentleman, and served as county school commissioner ioT a 
period of si.x years, previous to which time he was engaged in teaching. 
Since the expiration of his official terms, he has been devoting his attention to 
educational work and is now recognized as one of the most successful men of 



598 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

the profession in Isabella county. Fred J. Graham, the second son, was Ijorn 
on April 18, 1865. and for some time past has been practicing medicine at 
Sumner, this state. He is an accomplished physician and surgeon, stands 
high in the profession and has gained more than local repute for efficiency 
and skill in alleviating human suffering. His first wife, formerly Elsie 
Standish, dying, he subsequently married Anna Mulford, a lady of beautiful 
life and character and a true helpmate in the noble work to which his talents 
are I)eing devoted. Catherine E., the third child, was born December 14, 
1866, and died November 7, 1881. 



ROBERT H. CHAPAIAX. 

The subject of this sketch is a prosperous farmer of Isabella township 
and as a citizen is worthy of mention among those who by upright lives and 
wholesome influence give stability to the body politic and respectability to 
the comnnmities honored by their presence. Like many of the substantial 
yeomanry of Michigan, he comes from the dominion of Canada, where his 
ancestors settled a number of years ago and where representatives of his 
family still live. Robert Chapman, the subject's father, a native of York- 
shire, England, was born in 1804 and died in Canada in August, 1877. His 
wife, whose maiden name was Ann Wolf, also came from England, where 
her birth occurred in the year 1816. She departed this life at her home in 
York county, Ontario, in 1892. 

Robert H. Chapman was born in Otobicoke, York county, Ontario, 
June 21, 1846, and spent his childhood and youth in that town, recei\-ing his 
education in the schools of the same. Leaving home at the age of nineteen, 
he went to Palmyra, New York, where he learned the cabinetmaker's trade, 
and after working at the trade three and a half years in that city returned to 
Canada to assist with the labor on the farm. One year later he went to Day 
county, Iowa, where he followed his vocation for a period of three years, at 
the expiration of which time he returned to Canada and spent the ensuing fi\'e 
years in the province of Ontario. He then went to South Dakota, where he 
remained four and a half years, and in 1885 came to Isabella county, Michi- 
gan, locating at Rosebush, where for three years he applied himself to me- 
chanical work, removing at the end of that time to a forty-acre farm in Isa- 
bella township, which he culti\ated as a renter during the three years ensu- 
ing. Purchasing eighty acres in section 16, at the expiration of the period 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 590 

indicated moving to the sanic, lie ai)plied Iiiniself energetically to its improve- 
ment ami from that time to the present his career as a farmer has heen very 
satisfactory. .Mr. Chapman has brought his farm to a high state of cultiva- 
tion, raises abundant crops of all the grains, vegetables and fruits grown in 
this latitude and by continuous industry and good management has placed 
himself in easy circumstances. His impnnements are among the best in the 
locality, and the prosperous appearance of everything on the farm marks him 
not onlv as a man of energ\ but as possessing exceeding good taste. By re- 
modeling and adding to his residence, he now has a commodious and com- 
fortable home, equipped with many modern conveniences, his other buildings 
being in keeping therewith. In 1903 he erected a fine barn, thirty-four by 
fiftv feet in dimensions, with stone basement, and from time to time has 
further aiklcd to the value and productiveness of his land In- a successful 
system of tile drainage, besides enclosing the farm and subdividing it into 
fields with the latest type of wire fencing. 

Mr. Chapman was happily married in 1875 to Sarah Steele, whose birth 
occurred in Peel county, Ontario, March 14. 1858. Her parents, George and 
Marv ( .\rmstrong) Steele, were natives of the dominion, the former bom 
April 7, 1827, and is still li\ing: the latter was lx)rn September 5, 1832, and 
dejiarted this life on the iJlh day of September, igoo. Mr. and Mrs. Chap- 
ni;m arc the jjarents of children as follows: .\melia M., wife of Pearl Doane, 
of Mt. Pleasant, was born in Canada, September 2-j, 1875. Herbert G., born 
Mav 28, 1877, is single and lives in South Dakota. Ernest J-. who also is 
unmarried and who is still with his parents, was bom on the 24th day of 
March, 1879; Xina H., Iwu in South Dakota. August 12, 1882. married 
Herbert Maybee and lives in Oil Center. California: Ida M., now Mrs. Earl 
Johnson, born May 18, 1884, in South Dakota, is now living in Isabella 
township, where her husband is engaged in farming; Florence -Ann, born on 
the famil\- homestead in this county, September 25, 1886, is unmarried and 
hves in the city of Kalamazoo; Eva Oral>el, born May 2^. 1890, is a member 
of the home circle, as is also Willard S., the youngest of the family, who 
was born on the 20th day of December, 1899. 

Mr. Chajjuian votes with the Prohibition party, is earnest in the support 
of his principles and an uncompromising enemy of the licpior traffic. He has 
long been active in religious work, being a devout member of the Methodist 
-Episcopal church and \ox si.x years served as .steward of the local society with 
•which identified, al.so holding the position of trustee for a period of seven 
years. Mrs. Chapman, who is also an earnest and consistent Christian, has 
been superintendent of the Sunday school for two years and during the past 



600 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

ten years lias served as president of the Ladies' Aid Society. She is a woman 
of fine mind and marked individuality, very capable in public religious work 
and one of the valuable members of the church to which she and her husband 
belong. 



EDGAR W. ALLEN. 



Indi\idual enterprise, which is justly the l)oast of the American people, 
is strikingly exhibited in the career of the gentleman whose name forms the 
introduction to this sketch, for the well improved and well cultivated farm 
and splendid home which he has accumulated by his own efforts in Wise 
township, Isabella county, would indicate that he has let no obstacle thwart 
him. He has been a very active man in the development of this part of the 
county. He has seen the rapid growth of this locality from the primeval 
woods, inhabited by red men and wild beasts and the part he has taken in this 
growth entitles him to a place in his county's history. 

Edgar W. Allen was born in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, March 13. 1841. 
When sixteen years old he moved with his parents to Genesee county. Michi- 
gan, and most of his life has, therefore, been spent in the Woherine state. 
He is the son of Samuel and Nancy A. (Douglass) Allen, the former born 
in Vermont, and his death occurred on July 31, 1868, in Tuscola county, 
Michigan; the mother was born in Connecticut in 1800 and her death oc- 
curred about 1886. These parents grew to maturity and were educated in 
the East, lived for some time after their marriage in northern New York, 
then moved to Ohio. Their son, Edgar W., was sixteen years of age when 
the family moved to Genesee county, Michigan, being the only son. He at- 
tended school in Ohio until he was sixteen years of age. He knew what 
hard work was early in life, being the main support of his aged parents. In 
the spring of 1871 Edgar W. Allen came to Saginaw, Michigan, and re- 
mained there two years, and engaged in various kinds of work, on the dock, 
on farms, etc. In 1873 he came to Isabella county, and located in section 17, 
Wise township, when the country was wild and there were no established 
roads. He purchased eighty acres of land, all in the woods, sixty acres of 
which is now under cultivation. He has been very successful as a general 
farmer and fruit grower, has a well improved place and has erected substan- 
tial and comfortable buildings. He has made a great success as a horticul- 
turist, being one of the largest fruit growers in the county, raises apples, 
plums, grapes and small fruit, and has twelve acres in fruit of \-arious kinds. 



ISABELLA COrNTY. MICHIGAN. 6oi 

E\erytliing about liis place shows that a gentleman of good taste and indus- 
triiius hahits has its management in hand. He has maile all the improvements 
iiiniself and deserves tlie success he has attained. 

Mr. Allen was married while living in Genesee county, on September y, 
1862, to Minerva A. Parker, who was born August 25, 1864, in Livingston 
county, New York. She is the daughter of Eden B. and Minerva (Bacon) 
Parker, natives of Vemiont. 

Mr. .Mien is a Reiiuhlicaii in pnlitics and he belongs to the (iranger 
lodge. In .\ugust, 1883, lie was appointed supervisor of Wise township to 
fill tlie vacancy of James McLeod, and he was re-elected to this office in 
1884 and served very faithfully for five or six years. He was later highway 
commissioner for one year, and he has also held school oftices. such as school 
inspector. He is now justice of the peace, ha\ing lield this office in a very 
satisfactory manner for several years. He is one of the oldest settlers in the 
township and he is well known and highly honored by all classes. He has 
done his full share in the development of the community and is a man who 
has always performed very faithfully every task reposetl in him. 

Tn his family are the following children: Maud M., who married W. T. 
Tubbs, lives in Alpena, Michigan; Ruth S. married L. E. Mcintosh and 
lives with her father; Ralph C. married Ida Tucker, a jeweler and druggist 
at Harbor Beach, Michigan; Clyde C, who married Edna Kidd, is a |)ainter 
by trade and lives on his father's farm. 



PERRY H. ESTEE. JR. 

It is projjcr that the descendants of the old settlers, those who cleared the 
land of its primitive woods, should see that the doings of the early years are 
fittingly remembered and recorded. Could the lives of the first settlers be 
fully and truthfully written what an interesting, thrilling and wonderful tale 
it would be. Think of the ])rolix journey from the North or East, of the 
hardships of clearing the soil and the difficulties of i)roperly rearing the family. 
A native of Coe township. Isabella county, and one of the best known and 
highly honored citizens of the same is Perry H. Estee, Jr., a progressive 
farmer and stock raiser, who came to us from those picturesque days of the 
pioneer, who has lived to see and take ])art in the wondrous transformation of 
this locality, a man of many sterling attributes and worthy characteristics, 
like his distinguished father before him, and a man who, for varied reasons, is 



602 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

eminently entitled to conspicuous mention in a work of this character. 
Mr. Estee was born on his father's farm in Coe township, this county, 
on June 27,, 1866. He is the son of Perry H. and Carrie (Dole) Estee, who 
are mentioned at proper length in another part of this volume. The subject, 
who was the youngest member of the family, grew to maturity under his 
parental roof-tree and attended school one-half mile north of his birth place. 
He worked on the home farm during the summer and attended school in the 
wintertime, in fact he has always engaged in farming. The father's place 
consisted at one time of one hundred and fifty-four acres, but he sold twenty 
acres ; to his son he gave forty acres, then sold ten acres more, owning eighty- 
four acres when he died, of which the subject received forty-two acres and the 
sister the other forty-two acres. Perry H., Jr., having the one-half on which 
the buildings stand, which were erected by the father. He has a windmill and 
the place is well improved in every way and is under a high state of cultiva- 
tion. He keeps considerable good live stock of various kinds, and about three 
acres of his land is in fruit of a fine variety and quality. He sometimes has as 
nnich as twenty-five acres in beans, which nets him a good profit. About 
seventy acres of his farm are under cultivation. He has a most excellent 
farm and he manages it with such skill that the best results possible are ob- 
tained. 

Mr. Estee is a member of the Gleaners, being a charter member of the 
arbor at Shepherd. He is school director at the present time and he takes an 
interest in whatever tends to promote the general good of his community. 

Mr. Estee was married to Ellen CoiTman, who was born on February 5, 
1866, in Erie county, Pennsylvania, where her parents lived and died. The 
brother of the subject, whose wife had died in Pennsyhania, induced Ellen 
CofTnian to come and make her home with his parents and keep house for 
them, and she was here two years before her marriage, which occurred in the 
present Estee home on March 12, 1887, and she and Mr. Estee have resided 
here continuously to the present time. 

Mr. Estee recalls the incidents of the early days here when he assisted 
in clearing the home place. He cnvns a farm of eighty acres in section 17, 
Lincoln township, on which he built a small house and a barn. He bought 
this place from his brother in 1892, for which he paid twelve hundred dollars, 
and it is now worth four thousand dollars. Fifty acres are cleared, the rest 
being in timber, beech, maple and pine, the timber being worth over fifteen 
hundred dollars. He has now on this place fifteen acres of oats, twenty-six 
acres of clover, which he threshes for the seed. The rest is in pasture and 
miscellaneous crops. He intends to stock this farm with sheep. Mr. Estee 



ISABELLA COUNTV, MICHIGAN. 603 

has worked Iiaid and managed well and lie has been amply repaid, being now 
very comfortably fixed and l>eing one of the leading fanners and stock men 
of Coe township. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Estee the following children have been born: Marion 
D. lives in Shepherd, having worked in Taylor's store for tiie past five vears ; 
Sadie L. \'., Ivan and Iva (twins). Mary E., Perry H.. Jr.. Rush C, Merrill 
M. and Frances J. are at home. .V child died in infancy wiicn ten davs old. 
unnamed. 



ALBERT G. STRUBLE. 

Tlie success acliie\ed by the gentleman wliosc name introduces this re- 
view entitles him to honorable mention among the representative citizens of 
Isabella county and it is with much satisfaction that the following outline of 
his career and tribute to his worth are accorded a place in these pages. Albert 
G. Struble, second son and third child of Henry and Eliza (W'ickham) Stru- 
ble (see sketch of J. II. Struble). was born October i, 1864. in Williams 
county. Ohio, and in the spring of 186S was I>r( night to Isabella countv. 
Michigan, by his parents who settled in the village of Shepherd, in Coe town- 
ship. Isabella county, where the lad spent his childhood and youth. Reared 
to habits of industry and thrift, he early ])ro\cd a valuable assistant in a 
general store and at farm work. etc.. and while still young he made plans for 
his future, resolving to be something more than a mere passive agent in the 
world. .\t iiiter\als during his minority he attended the public schools of 
Coe townshi]) and in the fall of 1885. when he was married, he moved from 
Salt River, now called Shepherd, to a farm in Lincoln township and in the 
fall of 1888. when twenty-four years old, began dealing in agricultural im- 
plements and macliinery. at Shepherd, Michigan, which business for about 
thirteen years he carried on with success such as few attain. 

In addition to his regular business Mr. Struble, from time to time, has 
been and is now identified with various enterprises, including the Central 
State Savings Bank, at Shepherd, which he took the leading part in organiz- 
ing, also the Winn Banking Comiiany. which he hel])ed to establish, and of 
which he is the heaviest stockholder, director and vice-president in both 
banks besides at one time being a stockholder and director of the Isabella 
State Bank at Mt. Pleasant, of which he was one of the fir.st directors. Tlie 
other utilities with which he is identified are the Union Telephone Company, 
of Alma, this state, the \'alley Telephone Company, at Saginaw, in both of 



604 ISABELLA COUNTY^ MICHIGAN. 

which he is a heavy stockholder, and he also has various otlier interests in 
different places. Financially his success has been commensurate with the 
energy and judgment displayed in his undertakings, and at the present time 
he ranks among the large property holders and well-to-do men of central 
Michigan, among his possessions being the finely improved farm of tw(j hun- 
dred acres in Coe township, valuable business property and a number of lots 
in Shepherd and other places. During his residence of the most of his life 
time in Salt River and Shepherd, he lias taken a leading part in the develop- 
ment and growth of the town, ser\'ed fi\e years in the council, and was fore- 
most in every movement which had for its object the welfare of the com- 
munity and the general good of the populace. 

Such a man would naturally become interested in political and public 
affairs and for a number of years Mr. Struble has kept pace with the times 
concerning all matters on which men and parties divide, and holds tenaciously 
to opinions which he forms only after deliberation. He votes the Republican 
ticket and is an influential factor in his party, though not a partisan, much 
less a seeker after the honors and emoluments of office. He holds member- 
ship with Salt River Lodge No. 288, Free and Accepted Masons, and for 
several years served as secretary of the same, besides contributing in many 
other ways to bring about the flourishing condition for which the organization 
now is noted. 

Mr. Struble, on October 7, 1885, was united in marriage with Jennie E. 
Morris, born January 11, 1868, whose parents, Franklin and Mary J. ( Annis) 
Morris, were born in the years 1830 and 1836, respectively, the father dying 
in 1897; the mother, who is still living, makes her home in Lincoln township, 
this county. Mr. and Mrs. Struble have two children, the older of whom, 
Edna Alberta, born January 19, 1890, is a teacher and lives with her parents, 
and will graduate in June, 1911, at the State Normal School in Mt. Pleasant, 
Michigan ; Lena Belle, who also is a member of the home circle, was born 
October 17. 1903. and is now attending the Shepherd, Michigan, public 
school. 



HARRISON ABBOTT. 

Few residents of Isabella county were as widely known and as highly 
esteemed as the late Harrison Abbott, of Coe township. Coming to Michi- 
gan in an early day, he bore an active part in the development of the section 
of country in which he settled and by a long life singularly free from fault 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 605 

and largely devoted to the welfare of those with wliom lie mingled, he earned 
the confidence of his fellow men and left to his descendants a name alx)\e 
the suspicion of dishonor. Mr. Abbott was a native of New England and 
inherited many of the sterling characteristics of a long line of sturdy ances- 
tors. He was born in Shi: ftsbury. \'ermont, October 4. iS-W and when 
eight years old accompanied his parents, Adna and Cynthia Abbott, to Wash- 
ington county, Xew York, where he grew to maturity and received his edu- 
cational training. On May 26. 1853, at Hartford, New York, he was united 
in marriage with Martha A. Walling, whose birth occurred at Gouverneur. that 
state. January 8, 1828, she being a daughter of William and Polly (Smith) 
Walling, the father a well known resident of Gou\erneur and for many years 
proprietor of a shoe simp in tiie place of his residence. 

In the year 1868 Mr. Abbott disposed of his interests in New York state 
ami moved to Isabella county, Michigan, purchasing a section of fine land in 
Coe township for which he paid the sum of thirty-five dollars per acre and 
which. l)y persevering and well directed lal>or, was in due time improved and 
became one of the most beautiful and desirable farms in that locality. He 
raised abundant crops of all the grains and vegetables common to central 
MichigaiL besides devoting considerable attention to live stock, and from the 
splendid maple orchard on his farm he was known to make as high as eight 
hundred pounds of sugar a year, the greater part of which was sold at the 
neighboring store or exchanged for such commodities as the family needed. 

In all that constituted a successful agriculturist and enterprising man of 
affairs. Mr. Abbott was easily tiie ])eer of any of liis fellow citizens and. 
though of (|uiet demeanor and a true type of modest worth, he exercised a 
strong influence for good in his neighborhood and alw ays stood for the right 
and for the strict enforcement of law and order. In his relations with his 
fellow men he was the sou! of honor ;uid wlierever known his simple word 
had all the sanctify of a written obligation. His ideals were always high an<l 
his purposes noble and it was ever his aim to realize within himself the high 
standard of manhood and citizenship which he hoped might become general 
in a community whose morals were not always at a premium and good gov- 
ernment at times was lacking. Personally, he was a man of pure and clean 
habits and it was without borsting that he abstained from all kinds of intoxi- 
cants. ne\er used tobacco in any form, nor indulged in any kind of excesses 
which pollute the body and tlegrade the better nature. 

Mr. and Mrs. Abbott were the parents of two children, namely: Marilla, 
born in White Creek. New York, October 25, 1856, married \\^ E. Preston, 
of Mt. Pleasant, where the couple now live (see sketch of W. V.. Preston) : 



6o6 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

jMiles D.. whose birth occurred in White Creek, July 24, i860, was married 
April 18, 1 88 1, to Mina Walton and is now engaged in farming. 

Harrison Abbott lived beyond the allotted span and, like a shock of 
wheat fully ripened for the garner, was gathered to his fathers in his eighty- 
fourth year, dying from old age and feebleness on September 18, 1907. 



JAMES E. WOOD. 



In calling the reader's attention to the honorable and successful career 
of James E. Wood, well known farmer and merchant and public-spirited 
citizen of Gilmore, Gilmore township, Isabella county, no attempt shall be 
made to recount all the important acts in his useful and busy life, for it is 
deemed that only a few of the interesting incidents in his tareer will suffice 
to show him to be eminently worthy of a place in this volume along with his 
fellows of high standing and recognized worth. 

Air. Wood was born on July 21, 1872, in Gilmore township, this county, 
the son of Jesse H. and Martha Jane Wood, the father born in Pennsylvania 
in 1838 and the mother also in that state in 1842. The elder Wood has a very 
pleasant home in Farwell and is a highly respected man. His family con- 
sists of the following children, living: Thomas, Hiram L., Hannah, James, 
of this review, Henry. Mary Effie, Jessie J.: Walter died in 1910. The par- 
ents of these children came to this county in 1865 settled first in Gratiot 
county, then came to Gilmore township, Isabella county, the father home- 
steading eighty acres, which, with the assistance of his sons, he cleared, at 
least the major part of it. The family lived at Forest Hill. Gratiot county, 
one year, and, having little money when they first came to this state, suffered 
a great many hardships. Tl'ey assisted in making a trail in order to get into 
Isabella county. After getting a start they lived \'ery comfortably. 

James E. Wood grew to maturity in his native community and went to 
school in the Schofiekl district, Gilmore township. During the summer 
months he assisted with the work on the farm, working out some, being com- 
pelled, on account of hard times, to hustle for himself part of the time during 
his boyhood. He remained at home until he was twenty-one years of age, 
then worked in the woods, did jobbing, in fact, most anything to earn an 
honest dollar. He took contracts to clear land and do similar work, con- 
tinuing this at intervals for about seven years. He then went to Conneaut, 
Ohio, where he shoveled iron ore, and there he began saving his money and 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 607 

got a good Start. Before going to Conncaiit lie had purchased eighty acres 
of wild land in Gilmore township, for which he paid the sum of two hun- 
dred dollars. His father and brother owned a store here at that time, and 
with the HKiney lie had saved at Conncaut and his eighty acres he purchased 
the interest of his father in the store, which was worth three thou.sand four 
hundred dollars. He went in debt for part of it, then, on .April 27, 1907. bought 
out his brother's interest, and he still owns and runs the store. 

On Xovember 12. 1902. Mr. Wood was united in marriage with Frances 
C. Glass, daughter of Herbert and Hannah Glass. She was born on March 
17, 1878, in Gilmore township. Her parents were old settlers in Gilmore 
township and were prominent in the early life there, being quite well-to-do 
now, owning two hundred acres of excellent land, a fine home and several 
large barns. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. James E. Wood : 
William Wallace, lx)rn Xovember 7, 1908. died Xovember 17, 1908: Herbert 
E.. born May 24, 1905. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Wood continued to reside here, the 
former working in the store. He ran a grocery wagon most of the time, his 
brother doing the work in the store, and he has followed this nearly every 
summer since, he and his brother owning each a half interest. James E. 
bought his brother's interest on April 27. 1907, since which time he has 
managed the store alone. This store has always been well patronized. The 
\\'ood Brothers built an addition to the store and remodeled the building, the 
store now being well arranged and attractive in appearance. They also had 
a cement basement dug under the store, and Mr. W'ood has very recently 
added other important improvements, including a modern furnace which 
makes his store very comfortable during the winter months and an acetylene 
gas lighting plant. The average sales at this store now amount to sevent\- 
dollars daily and the trade is gradually increasing. Mr. Wood employs two 
men on the deliver)- wagon and such help as he needs in the store. During 
the year 1910 twenty thousand dollars' worth of goods were sold, an increase 
of four hundred dollars over the i)revious year. .\ general mercantile stock 
is carried, including groceries, drugs, hardware, dry goods, shoes, etc. This is 
the only store in Gilmore township and it is patronized for miles around. It is 
located six miles from Farwell, nine miles from Weidman, ten miles from 
Rosebush and Clare, seven miles from Beal City and sixteen and one-half 
miles from Mt. Pleasant, thus being exceptionally well located, drawing cus- 
tomers from a wide field, in the midst of a prosperous farming community. 
The fact that the reputation of Mr. Wood among all his customers is that of 



6o8 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

a scrupulously honest man has done much to build up his fine trade. He keeps 
increasing his stock all the tune, and he is very grateful to the people of this 
vicinity for their patronage. 

Mr. Wood is also the owner of one hundred and forty acres of good 
land in Gilmore township, which is well improved and is well kept, about 
eighty acres being in cultivation, the rest being in pasture and most of his 
time is spent on the farm with what help he needs, while his wife looks after 
the store. He keeps some stock, including a team of mules worth five hundred 
dollars. General farming is carried on. He has good wells on his farm, 
streams running across liis fields. Most of it is well fenced and well drained, 
and he built a good barn on his place in 1908. 



DAN McLACHLAN. 



The successful farmer and representative citizen whose career is here- 
with briefly outlined is a native of Canada, but since 1871 has been actively 
identified with the material interests of Isabella county, Michigan, of which 
he is now an honored resident. 

His father, John McLachlan, was born in Scotland in the year 1832, 
and. at the age of twenty-three, crossed the Atlantic and settled in Canada, 
where he secured land and engaged in agricultural pursuits. After residing 
in that country until i860 he mo\'ed to the vicinity of Port Huron, Michigan, 
and settled in the woods among the Indians, having been one of the early 
pioneers of that part of the state and among the leading citizens of the com- 
munitv which he helped plant in the wilderness. Ten years later he disposed 
of his interests in the county of St. Clair and changed his residence to Isa- 
bella county, purchasing lands in Isabella township, which in due time he 
cleared and developed into a fine farm of one hundred and twenty acres, 
where he lived until his death, in the year 1898. He married, in Canada, 
Catharine McLachlan, who, though of the same family name as his own, 
was no relation, and became the father of ten children, whose names are as 
follows: Jessie, wife of Anthony F. Fitchell, lives in Isabella county: Daniel, 
subject of this review; Nancy, who married Chris Heins and died in this 
county some years ago ; Catharine died unmarried ; Hugh married Mary 
Fisher and is one of Isabella county's prosperous farmers ; John, a resident 
of Mt. Pleasant, married Belle Porter and is a respected citizen of that town: 
Belle, now Mrs. Wallace Spaulding. lives in Isabella county, as does also 



ISABELLA COUNTY MICHIGAN. 609 

Duncan, tlie next in order of hirtli. a sin<,de man and enterjirisinj^ citizen; 
Jennie, who married Joseph i'iaymond, lives in Wisconsin, and James, whose 
wife was formerly Dora Fall and who makes her home in the county of Isa- 
bella, being the youngest of the number. 

Daniel McLachlan. the second of this large and highly esteemed family, 
was horn in Canada on the 2jd day of l"el)ruar\-, 1845. Reared under ex- 
cellent home inlluence. lie grew up a strong, well-tle\eloped lad. and ;U the 
age of fifteen accompanied his parents to Michigan, where he early became 
familiar with woodcraft as a workman in various lumber camps. He fol- 
lowed that line of labor for a period of twenty years, during a part of which 
time he li\ed w itii his parents near I'lut i luron and from 1862 to 1875 made 
his home in Saginaw, moving from that city to Isaljella county in the latter 
year, where he has since devoted his attention to the pursuit of agriculture. 
In addition to his landed interests in this county he also owns a farm of 
eighty acres in the county of Midland (a lumber district), which he pur- 
chased for fi\e hundred dollars, but which is now conservatively estimated at 
considerably in excess of seven thousand dollars. 

Mr. McLachlan received his early education in Canada, where he 
attended school during the winter months for several years, devoting the 
sununer season to work on the family homestead. Later. b\- mingling with 
his fellow men. he became the possessor of a valuable fund of practical 
knowledge, which, supplemented l)y much reading in the meantime, has made 
liini a well informed and influential man. 

Recently he rented his farm and is now enjoying the fruits of his labors 
and excellent management in a life of practical retirement, although still 
giving personal attention t(' his \arious interests and keeping abreast of the 
times on all matters of public moment, being enterprising and wide awake and 
ever ready to lend his assistance and influence to all worthy measures for 
the advancement of the community and the welfare of his fellow men. Fra- 
ternallv he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Mt. Pleasant 
Lodge \o. 105. in which lie has passed all the chairs, besides holding mem- 
bership with Lodge No. 305, I*"ree and .\ccei)ted Masons, of the same place, 
in which he has also been honored with important official positions. He 
stands high in the latter fraternity and for some years has been a leading 
member of Chapter Xo. in. Royal .\rch Masons, which from time to time 
has called him to stations of responsibility and trust. In his political views 
Mr. McLachlan is a Democrat and as such wields a strong influence for his 
party in the county, having served six years as township supervisor, and 
four vears in the important (,fiFice of highway commissioner. From childhood 
(39) 



6lO ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

he has been a firm beHever in revealed religion and, as a devout member of the 
Presbyterian church, demonstrates by a life of inflexible integrity the beauty 
and worth of an abiding Christian faith. 

Mr. McLachlan married in St. Clair county, Michigan, Emma Houghton, 
who was born in England on the 22d of April, 1840, her parents, John and 
Jane Houghton, natives of England, coming to this country a number of 
years ago and settling in the county of St. Clair, where they reared a family 
and became widely and favoraI)ly known for their many sterling qualities. 
Mr. and Mrs. McLachlan have no children of their own, but their beautiful 
and attractive home is a favorite resort of the young people of the neighbor- 
hood, its doors standing ever open to all who seek its hospitality. They 
stand high in the social circles of the community, being ready at all times 
to countenance and encourage every enterprise for the intellectual and moral 
adx'ancement of those with whom they mingle and all who enjoy the favor 
of their acquaintance ' speak in high praise of their gentle demeanor and 
sterling worth. 



SOL. F. FRYE. 



The subject of this sketch has had a varied and exceedingly interesting 
career, only a mere outline of which is possible in an article of the limits of 
this review. Sol. F. Frye is a native of Greene county, Pennsylvania, and a 
son of David K. and Elizabeth (Fordyce) Frye, both born in that county 
and state, the father on the 14th day of July, 1812, the mother in the year 
1 81 7, These parents were married in Greene county, where they lived a 
number of years, moving later to West Virginia, where their deaths oc- 
curred in 1859. David K. Frye enlisted in a Pennsylvania regiment for the 
Mexican war, but hostilities having ceased and peace been declared while 
en route to the scene of action, he saw little service except the trip to and from 
Mexico. 

Sol F. Frye was born July 22. 1844, and spent his early life in his 
native county. After the death of his parents, which occurred when he was 
fifteen years old, he went to live with an uncle. Archibald Fordyce, with 
whom he remained two years, attending school at intervals in the mean- 
time. At the age of sixteen he enlisted in Company H, First California In- 
fantry, under Colonel Baker, for the hundred days' service, at the expiration 
of which time he re-enlisted at Camp Oregon, Washington, D. C, for three 
years. Colonel Baker, being from Califonua, was empowered liy the war 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 6l I 

department to raise two reijimeiits in tlic liast to represent that state, tlie 
transportation of troops from llic I'acific coast at that time being considered 
an undertaking too great to be practicable. Mr. Frye was in one of these 
regiments. 'I'lie bill ])assed by Congress providing for the organizing of the 
regiments stipulateil that Colonel Baker should keep them on the coast and 
as they entered the service very early in the war. July i. i8f)i. they were 
called the First United States Volunteer Infantry, the name being subse- 
(|uently changed to the Sevcnty-tirst Pennsylvania Volunteers. 

l'~nim ihc time ni entering the army .Mr. 1-Vye experienced nnich active 
service and not long after enlisting his regiment was engaged in desperate 
fighting with the Confederates in \arious parts of Virginia. He was with 
his command in the battles of Little Bethel. Munson Hill and the bloody 
engagement at Ball's Bluff, wliere he was taken prisoner and where the gal- 
lant ("olonel Baker fell while bravely leading his men. When captured, Mr. 
I'rye hail been four days and three nights without food and was in literally 
a condition of starvation. He was given but four ounces of bread and, with 
a number of his comrades, v>as started for Libby Prison, where he arri\ed in 
due time, his weight at the time of his entrance into that infamous pen being 
one hundred and seventy-six pounds and when exchanged, four months 
later, he barely tipped the beam at sixty pounds, and that too when heavily 
clothed. 

While in durance vile he was taken with diphtheria, which necessitated 
his being treated for three weeks in the prison hospital in Richmond and after 
his exchange, which took place on the 22(1 of February, 1862, he was sent 
to the Soldiers' Home in Washington, where he remained six weeks. By 
reason of sickness while in Libby, his throat became so afYected that he could 
not speak and after becoming a patient in the Soldiers' Home the physicians 
devoted special attention to the treatment of his throat. On being dismissed 
from the latter institution, Mr. Frye secured a furlough for twenty-four 
days and went to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where, by special order of Gov- 
ernor Curtin, he was api)ointed recruiting agent. After discharging the 
duties of the position until the expiration of the period indicated, he returned, 
in March, 1862, to his regiment at Yorktown, where the following month 
he was seized with smallpox while on duty and four days laid exposed to the 
rain with no covering other than his blanket to protect him from the furv 
of the Sturm. On being rescued he s])ent one day in an old brick church and 
was then taken in a dilapidated ambulance through the rain to Fortress Mon- 
roe, where he arrived at night in a condition better imagined than described. 
After remaining in the smallpox hospital near Fortress Monroe until the 20th 



6l2 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

of the following June, lie was transferred for one month, wlien lie rejoined 
his command the day preceding the battle of Mal\-ern Hill, in whicli he partic- 
ipated. One month later he was discharged, being a mere skeleton at the 
time with scarcely sufficient strength to walk. 

During the years following his discharge Mr. Frye suffered greatly, al- 
though he tried hard to work, as he did not like to be dependent upon his 
friends for his lix'elihood. When sufficiently recovered he accepted the posi- 
tion of watchman on the steamer "Starlight." plying the Ohio river, but being 
taken sick at St. Louis, he was obliged to resign the place, after a short time 
and again seek relief under the physician's care. Later he engaged as watch- 
man on the steamer "Allegheny Belle No. 4." but did not long retain the posi- 
tion, resigning after a few months and going to the city of Pittsburg, where 
he entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Central road, in which capacity 
he continued during the ensuing two years. Severing his connection with the 
road at the expiration of thet period, he went to St. Louis, Michigan, thence, 
on March 13th of the year 1866, came to Isabella county, locating in Coe 
township, where he made his headcjuarters while de\oting the several years 
following to dififerent pursuits. 

Mr. Frye attended high school at St. Louis for some time, subsecjuently 
worked at Lidian Mills in L'nion township and was also employed for some 
months in a hotel at Indian Mills, kept by John Campbell. Later he looked 
up timber in Isabella county for Joel Graves and also taught school for four 
years in Gilmore township and elsewhere. In 1888 he moved to Brinton and 
engaged in the drug trade, to which he has since devoted his attention, being 
at this time proprietor of a well stocked establishment and doing a safe and 
lucrative business. 

In addition to the se\-eral business and other relations referred to, Mr. 
Frye taught school for two years in his native state and for two years was in 
the general grocery trade at Farwell, Michigan, in partnership with P. M. 
Shumway. Disposing of his interest in the winter of 1877, he engaged as clerk 
in a hardware store kept by Mr. Todd, in whose employ he continued until 
the following spring, when he embarked in the drug business at Altona in 
partnership with Dr. J. E. Gruber, to whom he sold his interest in May, 1882. 
In October of that year he was appointed postmaster of Altona by President 
Arthur and held the position during the ensuing ten years, also thirteen years 
as township clerk and became one of the leading Republican politicians of 
Mecosta countv. Since mo\ing to Brinton he has been active in promoting 
the interests of the \illage and adjacent country and he is today not only one 
of the popular business men of the community, but also among the most es- 



ISABELLA COUNTY. M K 11 K ,A.\ . 613 

teemed citizens of the township in whidi lie Ii\cs. lie has serxed fmirteen 
terms as clerk of Coidwater township, two years as director of school district 
Xo. 6. and has been a notary public for a period of thirty-two years. He is 
still interested in politics and, like all good citizens, keeps in touch with the 
trend lit public thought and well informed on the great questions and issues 
concerning which men and parties divide. In 1884 he was enumerator of the 
state census for the township of Hinton. county of Mecosta, and in 1910 was 
appointed enumerator of Coidwater township for the national census, the 
duties of whicli position lie discharged in an eminently satisfactory manner 

Mr. l-'rye was married March 3. 1867. to Lucy Letjnard, daughter of 
Da\id and Sarah Leonard, natives of Pennsylvania, the union resulting in 
the follow ing children : Edward R. and Edwin, twins, who were born June 
5. i860, the latter deceased, the former a farmer of Kalkaska county, this 
state. Archibald was born July 2. 1876. in I'arwell. Clare county, and Edith, 
wife of Wayne Parker, who was born August 13. 1882. Mrs. Parker and 
her Inislnind achieved a national reputation some years ago as aeronauts, 
having traveled over the greater part of the United States making l)alloon as- 
censions from nearly all the large cities. The mother of these children dying 
in 1882. Mr. Frye. in March. 1890. married ^linnie AL Lawrence, who was 
born October 20. 1868. The pledge of this union is a daughter. Beulah, 
whose birth occurred in the year 1894. and who is now pursuing her studies 
in the normal school at Mt. Pleasant. 



LE\"1 SEVMOCR. 



The efforts of Levi Seymour, well known and successful farmer of Gil- 
more township. Isabella county, which have been practically unaided, a fact 
that renders him more worthy of the praise that is freely accorded him by 
his neighbors, have resulted in much good to himself and family and to the 
comniunitv in general, for his life has been one of unceasing industry and 
perseverance. 

Mr. Seymour was born in Oswego county. Xew York. March 16. i860, 
and he is the son of an excellent and highly honored couple, Elem and Har- 
riet Seymour, the father a native of the state of Xew York. Besides Levi, 
their children were : Mary, who married G. A. Pitts, is living in Gilmore 
township, this countv : All^ert E. works in the state of Washington and is 
married to Chloic Temple: Adelmcr is deceased. 



6l4 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Levi Seymour grew up in Oswego county. New York, and attended 
school there. His father, who died when the son was two years of age, was 
a saw-mill man. Thus deprived of a father, Levi was early in life thrown 
upon his own resources and knew the meaning of hardships and hard work, 
being employed on farms and in the woods. He was seventeen years of age 
when he came to Michigan with his brother, Albert, having heard of the 
excellent prospects in this state for young men, but he had no thought of 
making it his permanent heme. He first went to Muskegon, then to Far- 
well, but a few days later went into the woods and began work, engaging 
in this line of endeavor at frecjuent intervals for about sixteen years. He 
arrived here without means, but he was economical and saved his money and 
in due course of time Had a start. He purchased forty acres of land a half 
mile north of his present place in Gilmore township, Isabella county, two 
years after his arrival here, paying two hundred dollars for the same, having 
earned the money with which to pay for it by work in the woods. It was all 
first growth timber and there were no buildings on it. He set to work with a 
will and cleared about half of the forty acres and erected a small house 
which he later added to, making that his home until he came to his present 
place, which, although he has not lived here all the time, he has called his 
home. 

Mr. Seymour was married, when twenty-one years of age, to E\-a Rob- 
bins, daughter of P. H. and Isabelle Robbins, who was born in Nova Scotia 
in September, i860. They were married on the farm where they now reside, 
her father having owned the place at that time. 

Mr. Seymour was in the Northern Peninsula two and one-half years 
engaged in lumbering. In 1908 he traded for fort}' acres west of his present 
place, subsequently purchasing the forty on which he now lives at sheriff's 
sale, later Iniying more land across the road, making in all one hundred and 
twenty acres. This constituted a very desirable farm in every particular and 
one of the best in the community. His farm is nearly all cleared, and he has 
placed on it most excellent improvements of every description. The former 
dwelling having burned, he replaced it with a substantial and attractive ce- 
ment block house in 1909, before which date he had lived in a rented house. 
He has also erected a large, substantial and convenient barn. He has a good 
cellar under his house, in fact, has everything about his place to make it 
attractive and desirable. When he took charge of this land it was far from 
being what it should have been in point of productiveness, but Mr. Seymour 
is a skilled agriculturist and he has built up the soil until it now produces 
abundant harvests of almost all kinds known in this latitude. 



ISAHII.I.A corxTV. michigax. 615 

To Mr. and Mrs. Seymour the folhnviiig children have been born: 
Pearl, who married W'ilHani Murphy, lives in Saginaw: Bessie married lierl). 
Glass and lives in Gilmore ; Millard married Cora Robbins and lives in Minne- 
sota: Ruth married George Pitts and lives in Gilmore: Lena, who is now 
thirteen years of age, is still a member of the family circle at home. 

Politically, Mr. Seymour is not a ])arty man. i)refcrriiig to \ote inde- 
pendently. He takes an aliiding interest in whatever tends to ad\ance the 
general good of his community and count\-. 



llLGli W.\TSOX. 



The subject of this rc\iew is descended from sturdy Scotch ancestry 
and inherits many of the )>terling (|ualities of head and heart for which his 
nationality for generations has been noted. His father. James Watson, whose 
birth occurred in Cromarty, Scotland, in 1835, came to America at the age of 
twenty-one and settled in Hastings county, Ontario, where he spent the ensu- 
ing eighteen years as a farmer and miller, having learned the latter trade be- 
fore leaving his native land. In 1865 he \isited various ])arts of central 
Michigan and, being pleased with Isabella county, spent one summer in Mt. 
Pleasant, returning to Canada at the end of that time and remaining there 
until 1874. In the latter year he returned to that county and Ixnight a quar- 
ter section of land in Isabella township, which he de\eloped from a wil- 
derness condition into a fine farm and to which he subsequently added until 
the place now contains two hundred acres, nearly all improved and in a high 
state of cultivation. 

James Watson is still living and at the present time is one of the old and 
highlv esteemed citizens of Denver township, where he is now spending the 
closing vears of a well spent life in honorable retirement. Pie married, when 
a young man, Rosella Rosebush, who was born in Hastings county. Ontario. 
in 1841. the union resulting in the birth of children as follows: John. William. 
James, whose sketch appears elsewhere, Minnie. Hugh, the subject of this 
review, and Catherine, all of whom grew to maturity and became well known 
and greatly esteemed in their respective places of residence. 

Hugh Watson was born in January. 1877. in Isabella county. Michigan, 
and his early experience en^braced the usual routine of farm labor, varied 
during the winter seasons by attendance at the district schools. .\mid the 
wholesome and inspiring atmosphere of the country he grew up to a well- 



6l6 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

rounded man. capable of grasping the problems of life and well (jualified to 
fill the place in the world wh.ich, while a mere lad. he had chosen. Reared to 
agricultural pursuits, he naturally selected that calling for his vocation and 
as a tiller of the soil he has been quite successful, owning at this time a beau- 
tiful and well improved farm of one hundred and twenty acres in Isabella 
township, where he raises abundant crops of all the grains, vegetables and 
fruits for which Michigan has long been noted. He also has a fine sugar 
grove on his place and every spring manufactures large quantities of maple 
syrup and sugar, for which there is always a ready demand and good prices. 
Mr. Watson was married in the year 1903 to Edith Cooper, whose birth 
occurred in Mt. Pleasant on the 27th day of January. 1881, and who, for 
three years following her graduation from the State Central Normal School 
at Mt. Pleasant in 1900. taught in the district schools of Isabella county. 
Her father, Henry Cooper, was born March 8, 1855, in Canada and died in 
Sanilac county on April 16, 1898. The maiden name of her inother was 
Nellie \\'eller. She was born in Washtenaw county. Michigan. October 10, 
1864, and some time after the death of Mr. Cooper she married George Gil- 
pin and is now living in Union township. Mr. and Mrs. Watson have one 
child, a daughter, Ethel Marie, who was born on March 28, 1908. Politically, 
Mr. Watson is a stanch Republican and religiously belongs with his wife to 
the Methodist Episcopal church, in wliich he holds the position of trustee. 
Fraternally he is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America and mani- 
fests a li\-ely interest in the local lodge which holds his membership. 



JOHN BUCKBOROUGH. 

One of the leading citizens and representative farmers of Den\-er town- 
ship, Isabella county, is John Buckborough. His has been an eminently active 
and useful life, but the limited space at the disposal of the biographer forbids 
more than a casual mention of the leading events in his career, which, in our 
opinion, will suffice to show what earnest endeavor and honesty of purpose 
rightly applied and persistently followed will lead to — ultimate success. He 
is looked upon as a man thoroughly in sympathy with any movement looking 
to the betterment or advancement in any way of his communitv. wliere he has 
always been regarded as a man of sterling honesty and worthy of the utmost 
confidence and respect which his fellow citizens have been free to accord 
owing to his upright and industrious life. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 617 

Mr. Buckborough was born on January 13. 1863. in Windham town- 
ship, Norfolk county, Ontario. He is the son of James C. antl Ivachael 
(Smith) Buckborough. the fatlier born in 1824 at Beverly, Ontario, and the 
mother in Brant county, Oi.tario: they were married in Beverly. Ontario, in 
1854 and there her death occurred in 1901 : the father is still living on his 
farm of one hundred and fifty acres in that province, having devoted his life 
to farming. The following children were born to them : Sarah, Phoebe. 
George, .\mclia. John, of this review. Rachael, Sydney. Edward, Seigal and 
Laura. 

JoJin Bucki)orough remained al liis ])arental home in Canad.'i until lie 
was eighteen years of age. assisting with the work on the home farm and at- 
tending the district schools during the winter months. He also worked in a 
cheese factory two years, dm-ing which time he learned the "ins and outs" of 
this business. He came to Michigan in 1881 by way of Saginaw, which was 
at that time a great lumbering town: he came on through Midland to Wise 
township. Isaliella county, where he Ijonght eighty acres in Den\er township, 
which still forms a i)art of his farm and for whicli he paid the sum of six 
hundred and fifty dollars. After remaining on the place about a month he 
went to Forest Hill, Gratiot county, and worked for J. W. Doan on his fami 
for alx)ut two months, then returned to Wise township. Isabella county, and 
worked in the lumber business, in the woods all winter and during a part of 
the following summer, only a small part of his work being on the river. He 
remained there a year and a half, or until about 1884; he then came to his 
place, which he had neglected for the most part, and proceeded to clear it, 
remaining on it three \'ears. li\ing with a friend on an adjoining farm, doing 
tiieir own cooking aufl housekeeping, lie rented eighty acres and went to 
work for the Chippewa Luinl>er Company. Chippewa Lake, Mecosta county, 
Michigan, remaining with them one year. He took up blacksmithing there 
and worked mostly in the woods, then went to work in Clare countv. doing 
blaeksmitiiing and nnming a hoisting engine for hoisting logs onto a train, 
following this in the summer and his trade in the winter. He remained in 
Clare county two years, then went to Lake Odes.sa. Ionia county, where he 
remained one year, working for his brother George as a blacksmith, then re- 
turned to Clare county and took up his former occupations, remaining there 
until August 17, 1893. 

While living there, he was married, on October 16. 1891, to Ida Cramer, 
who was born in October, 1866, in Norfolk county, Ontario. She came to 
Saginaw to work an<l there met Mr. Buckborough. Finally moving to his 
present place Mr. Buckborough set to work and developed an excellent farm. 



6lS ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

first adding forty acres to his eighty, making one hundred and twent}', iia\- 
ing purchased this a year before he settled on liis farm permanently. He lived 
in a small iiouse, twelve by sixteen feet, until 1901, when he built his present 
substantial, comfortable and beautiful residence: it is of cobble stones, the first 
of its kind to be built in the township, and is thirty by thirty feet : he also 
built a barn ninety-five by thirty-five, upright, and forty-five bv thirtv wing, 
under which is a basement the same size as the barn. He has cleared off the 
one hundred and twenty acres and about 1897 bought twenty acre* adjoining. 
He maintains a blacksmith shop on his place, but does his own work only. He 
carries on general farming and keeps some good live stock, horses, cattle, 
sheep, etc. He has been very successful in his fanning operations and has 
developed one of the best farms in the township and he is deserving of a 
great deal of credit for what he has accomplished, for it has all been by hard 
work and honest effort. He put up the first windmill in the township. After 
he bought his first eighty acres and took the stage to Forest Hill, where he 
had secured employment, he had the sum of ten cents after paying his fare. 
Such a man, who is willing to work long and hard to accomplish his ambi- 
tions, is worthy of success. He is a Democrat and has held school offices. 
He belongs to the Presbyterian church of Wise and is a member of the 
Grange, Lodge No. 1063, of Denver. 



D.WTD ANSPAUGH. 



David Anspaugh was born .August 8, 1854, in Williams county, Ohio, 
and is a son of Benjamin and Racliel (Koin) Anspaugh, the former living, 
the latter departing this life in Rolland township in the y^ear 1909. Mr. 
Anspaugh was reared to maturity in his native county and state, spent his 
early years on a farm and has practically devoted his life to the cultivation 
of the soil. He remained in Ohio until twenty-seven years of age and then 
came to Isabella county, Michigan, purchasing, in the spring of 1882, the 
eighty acres of land in Rolland township which he improved and on which 
he has since lived. By diligent labor he has converted his land into one 
of the best and most desirable farms of the locality in which it is situated, 
while his improvements compare favorably with any others in the township, 
his dwelling, but recently erected, being a beautiful and imposing edifice, 
well equipped with modern conveniences and his other buildings substan- 
tially constructed and up to date in all of their appointments. 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 619 

As a farmer Mr. Anspaugh is energetic and progressive and believes in 
the honor and dignity of liis caUing. By good management he has accumu- 
lated a comfortal)le competency and. being in independent circumstances, 
he is now able to live at greater ease than formerly and enjuy many of the 
material blessings by which he is surrounded. Personally he is quite popular 
among his neighbors and friends and ever since coming to this state he 
has manifested a lively interest in the affairs of his township and county 
and done all within his power to advance the various interests of the com- 
munity in which he resides. From time to time he has been honored by 
his fellow citizens with important official trusts, having served ten consecu- 
tive years as school director, besides filling other local positions to which 
elected. He is a member of the fraternity of Odtl I-'ellows, in which he 
has also Ijeen chosen to official stations and in iwlitics votes with the Re- 
publican party. 

Mr. Anspaugh is a gentleman of intelligence and good taste, a reader 
and thinker and widely informed on many subjects, including the leading 
]nil)lic i|uestions and ])olilical issues of tbc times, lie is also an accomplished 
violinist and for many years devoted much time and study to the king of 
musical instruments, which he now jjlays with the ability and skill of a 
master. Had he seen fit to make music a profession, he doubtless would 
long ere this ha\e become one of the distinguished violinists before the public. 

Mr. Anspaugh was married in W'illiams county, Ohio, July 2, 1876, 
to Ellen (iloar. of Crawfortl county, tliat state, who has borne him five 
children, only one of whom, Blanche M., wife of Irving Delo, is living; 
the following are the names of those deceased : Ira, Lloyd, Grace and Ger- 
trude. The daughter last named grew to womanhood and became the wife 
of Jacob Buhrer. but after a brief but happy wedded experience. dei)arted 
this life in the winter of 190S. the other children dving in childhood. 



M. EARL HOUGHTON. 

The gentleman whose name introduces this article holds distinctive 
prestige as a business man and to him in no small degree the thriving town 
of Blanchard is indebted for its reputation as an important trading point, 
also for its adxantages as a place of residence and where capital may be 
safely invested. 



620 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

M. Earl Houghton is a native of Ionia county, of the state now lion- 
ored by his citizenship, having been born on the 15th day of August. 1875. 
His father. Dr. Loren A. Houghton, was long a prominent physician of the 
above county, but later, about 1883, removed to Blanchard. in the county of 
Isabella, where he practiced his profession until his death, which ticcurred 
April II, 1907, at the age of sixty-two. The maiden name of Mrs. Dr. 
Houghton was Diana Foster: she is still li\'ing. as are two of her three chil- 
dren, M. Earl, of this review, and Edwin M.. his business partner. 

M. Earl Houghton was eight years old when his parents moved to 
Blanchard and since 1883 his life has been closely interwoven with the village 
and its various interests. He received his preliminary education in the schools 
of the town and later took a course in the Ferris Institute at Big Rapids, 
where he made commendable progress in his studies and earned an honorable 
reputation as a student. He early manifested a desire for a business life and 
in 1907 was enabled to carry his intentions into effect. Forming a partnership 
that year with his brother. Edwin M. Houghton, the present mercantile 
house, under the firm name of Houghton Brothers, was founded, since which 
time it has grown rapidly in public favor until it is now one of the largest and 
most successful general mercantile establishments in the town of Blanchard. 

Mr. Houghton has demonstrated fine ability in his business and, ])y 
judicious judgment and management and courteous relations with his cus- 
tomers, has secured a large and lucrati\'e patronage. The brothers carry full 
lines of all kinds of goods to meet the demands of the general trade, attend 
closely to their business and manifest commendable interest and zeal in 
whatever tends to the impro^ ement of the town and the benefit of the people. 
The subject has long been a factor of considerable influence in public affairs, 
having served two years as trustee of Rolland township, besides in private 
capacities doing much to encourage enterprises and movements having for 
their object the development of the country and the general good of his 
fellow men. Well informed on the questions of the day and the issues con- 
cerning which there is a division of sentiment, he is not allied with any party, 
ha\ing independent views in politics, giving his support to the candidate who, 
in his judgment, is best qualified for the office to which he aspires. In his 
fraternal relations he is an Odd Fellow and a member of the Knights of the 
Maccabees, in both of which, he is an active worker and from time to time 
has been elected to offices in each. 

'Mv. Houghton is a man of mature judgment and wise discretion, and it 
is not too much to say that there are few more judicious or better business 
men in the county than he. He has managed his \arious interests very sue- 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 621 

cessfully and is now the possessor of a comfortable com])etency. whidi in- 
cludes property in the town where he resides and considerable farm pro|)erty 
in the counties of Isabella and Mecosta, the greater part of his real estate 
being well improved and returning him handsome profits on the capital in- 
vested. 

Mr. Houghton was happily married on the 2d day of September, 1898, 
to Grace Shepard, daughter of William and .-Mice Shepard, of Ionia county. 
Michigan, the union being blessed with three children. Everett L.. Leatha E. 
and Edith L. 



JAMES M. K. KENNEDY. 

The successful business man and prominent citizen whose career is 
briefly sketched in the following lines is a native of Carroll county. Ohio, 
and the oldest of a family of three children whose parents were Samuel 
Kennedy and Mary West, the former born .\pril 16. 1823. in county Down. 
Ireland, and the latter in Carroll county. Ohio, on May i. 1827. Samuel 
Kennedy came to America when eight years old. married Miss West in 
Ohio and in May. 1863. moved his family from that state to Isalx;lla county, 
Michigan, settling on the place in Coe township which the subject now owns, 
paying one thousand dollars for the eighty acres of land, which was mostly 
timber and presented few inducements for the making of a home. With 
the assistance of his sons. Mr. Kennedy cleared and developed a good farm 
on which he spent the remainder of his days as a prosperous tiller of the 
soil, in addition to which vocation he was in business for some time, be- 
sides taking an acti\e jiart in pujjlic matters, the present courthouse having 
l>een constructed under his sui)ervisi<in. .\t his death the farm was equally 
divided among his three sons, whose names in order of birth are as fol- 
lows: James M. R.. Stephen and Andrew, all of whom became respected 
citizens. 

J. M. R. Kennedy was born October 16. 1850. and at the age of 
thirteen accompanied his parents upon their removal to Isabella county, 
from which time until his twentieth year he lived on the family homestead 
in Coe township and bore his part in the development of the farm. Mean- 
while, in his nati\e state and this county, he attended the district schools 
at intenals during his minority and when twenty years old engaged in the 
manufacture of lumber with his father, the portable saw mill which they 
operated being the first mill of the kind ever brought to Isabella county. 



622 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

In connection with sawing lumber, they also operated a planing mill, which 
was extensively patronized, both branches of business proving successful 
and yielding handsome earnings to the proprietors. After his fathers death 
the subject continued to operate a saw mill until 1900, since which time 
he devoted his attention to his other interests, principally agriculture, which 
he carries on quite extensively, owning at the present time several fine farms 
in Isabella county, including one of one hundred and twenty acres in Lin- 
coln township, another of one hundred and sixty acres, besides a two- 
thirds interest in the home place of eighty acres, which he still retains. 

Mr. Kennedy has met with success such as few attain and as a busi- 
ness man ranks among the most enterprising and progressive of his con- 
temporaries. With sound judgment, discreet tact and wise forethought, 
he lays his plans with the greatest care and, possessing the power to foresee 
with remarkable accuracy the future outcome of present action, seldom if 
ever fails to attain the ends sought and that, too, by the most honorable 
and straightforward methods. His relations with his fellow men, busi- 
ness or otherwise, have always been above suspicion, his integrity has never 
been questioned and his high character as a broad-minded, public-spirited 
man of affairs has won the confidence of all with whom he comes into 
contact. Believing in using his means to worthy ends, he has been un- 
.sparing in the fitting up of his home and making it attractive, his residence, 
a beautiful and substantial edifice with all modern conveniences, comparing 
favorably with the best country dwellings in the county, the other buildings 
being in keeping therewith, while the splendid condition of fences, fields, 
etc., indeed the appearance of everything on the premises, bear evidence to 
the interest manifested in his affairs and indicate the presence of an up- 
to-date American farmer and business man who is master of his calling 
and proud of the same. His financial success has been commensurate with 
the energy and ability displayed in all of his undertakings and he is now 
one of the well-to-do men of his township and county. 

In politics Mr. Kennedy is uncompromisingly Republican, but not a 
partisan in the sense of seeking office or aspiring to leadership; nevertheless, 
he served eight years as drainage commissioner and. had he seen fit to 
accept, could have had almost any other official position within the gift 
of his fellow citizens. He stands high in Masonic circles, having been 
identified with the order for thirty-nine years, belonging at this time to the 
blue lodge and chapter at Mt. Pleasant, also to Division No. 8, Royal 
Guards, at the same place. 

Mr. Kennedy, in October, 1870, was united in marriage with Margaret 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 623 

E. Walters, who was born August 29, 1850, in New York, the union being 
blessed with four children, namely: Howard, who lives in Isabella county; 
Samuel, now pursuing his art studies in Paris, France: Frank, who is still 
witli his p.irents. and Maimie. who married John Martin and lives in Coe 
township. Samuel, the second son, after being graduated from the Mt. 
Pleasant Normal and Michigan Agricultural College, devoted his entire at- 
tention to art. in which lie is especially talented, and before going abroad 
achieved a wide reputation witli his l)rush. As stated alx^\e. he is now in the 
city of Paris studying under some of the world's master painters and the pic- 
tures of his on exhibition have already won honorable mention and given 
him a name among the rising artists of Europe and the United States. A 
close and painstaking student and com])letely absorbed l)y his profession, 
he has before him a brilliant future wliich his friends and the public in gen- 
eral are watching with great interest. 



BENJ.\MIX B. STEVENS. 

Tlie subject of this skevcli is descended from sturdy New England stock 
and combines many of the sterling qualities for which his ancestors were 
noted. His parents, John and Maria Stevens, natives of Vermont and Massa- 
chusetts, respectively, have spent the greater part of their li\es in Michigan 
and now reside in the town of Vermontville, this state. 

Benjamin B. Stevens was Ixjrn January 17, 1859, in Bay county. Michi- 
gan, and when about six years old moved with his parents to Vermontville, 
Eaton county, where he secured his education and grew to niaturit\-. On 
attaining his majority he se\ered home ties to make his own way in the world, 
going to Dakota territory, where he took up land which he im])roved and on 
which he spent the ensuing twenty years as a farmer and stock man. Dispos- 
ing of his interests in Dakota in 1904, Mr. Stevens came to Isabella county, 
Michigan, and purchased all of section 13, Coldwater township, on which 
there was jjractically nothing in the way of improvements. Since then he 
has cleared and reduced to cultivation one hundred and sixty acres on which 
he has made a number of good improvements and which he designs for a 
sheep ranch. He now has a herd of three hundred fine sheep on his place. 
aho (|uite a number of hogs, in the breeding and raising of which he has been 
fairly successful. The greater part of his land is devoted to clover hay which 
he feeds on the place, and from the sale of clover .seed, which he makes a 
specialty, his earnings from this source constituting a large part of his income. 



624 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Mr. Stevens is a man of energy and foresight, enterprising in all the 
term implies and is essentially a man of the people with the best interests of 
the community at heart. He lends his influence to all worthy movements and 
his name is connected with every laudable measure whereby his neighbors 
and friends may be benefited. For some years he has been a leading member 
of the Grange, which he has served in various official capacities, and at the 
present time he holds the important position of master in the local organiza- 
tion. He also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen of North Dakota and is acti\e in church 
and Sunday school work and is always opposed to the saloon. In his political 
allegiance he is a "progressive" Republican and as such wields a strong in- 
fluence for his party in the township of his residence, besides having been 
elected supervisor one term, also township clerk, being the present incumbent 
of the latter ofiice. 

Ida Parmenter. who became the wife of Mr. Stevens in 1885, was born 
in the year 1859, the marriage being blessed with five children whose names 
are as follows : Ruth, who was graduated from the Central State Normal 
School at Mt. Pleasant in 1910, and is now one of the county's efficient 
teachers; Grace and Marjorie are graduates of the Vermontville higli school 
and have attended the normal at Mt. Pleasant and are now teachers in the 
public schools; William and Bruce, the youngest members of the family, 
are pupils of the district schools and are well advanced in their studies. "Sirs. 
Stevens died March 11, 1911, and in her death the home lost a mother and 
counselor much needed and the community a force in social uplift. 



CL.ARK C. FIELD. 



Clark C. Field, proprietor of the flouring mill at Shepherd and one of the 
leading citizens of that town., is a native of Eaton county, Michigan, where he 
was born in the vear 1853. He spent his boyhood days near the place of his 
birth and owing to adverse circumstances obtained but a limited education, 
but bv nnich reading and intelligent observation he has subsequently made up 
verv largely for this deficiency, being now one of the well informed men of 
the community whose opinions on matters of general interest carry weight 
and command respect. During his minority Mr. Field worked at farming and 
other kinds of labor which he found to do, and at the^ age of twent\-one took 
up the stone mason's trade, at which he soon acquired proficiency and to whic'i 




CLARK. C. FIF.I.n 



ISABKLLA COl'NTV. MICIIIGAX. 625 

he devoted his attention dnrinj; the six years ensuing. In 1880 he ciiose a 
wife and helpmate in the person of Knima Eghest, of Charlotte. Michigan, 
and siiort!}- tiiereafter entered the eni])loy of his father-in-law in the latter's 
flouring mill where he was engaged until going to Hastings and organizing a 
stock company in the erection of a mill al that place a few years later, .\ttcr 
the completion of the mill he went tni the road to sell flour-mill machinery, 
which line of business he followed for three years and for a similar length of 
time was engaged in contracting and building at the town of Charlotte, where 
he located after his marriage and where he made his home until his removal, 
in 1895, to Shepherd. 

Mr. Field mo\ed to his present place of residence for the purpose of 
engaging in the manufacture of tlour, purchasing in the above year a hrdf 
interest in the Shephenl nulls, su.bsequently becoming sole proprietor. One 
year later the roof of the mil! was blown off during a stonn. entailing quite a 
heavy loss, and in igoo the entire structure was destroyed by fire. He imme- 
diately rebuilt on modern plans and now has one of the best mills of the kind 
in the country, the Iiuildint; being a commodious and substantial structure 
equipped with machinery for the manufacture of flour by the most approved 
process, the output being absolutely Xo. i grade and commanding the highest 
prices in the local and general mnkcts. l!y years of painstaking experience. 
Mr. Field has made himself familiar with e\'ery detail of the milling business 
and as master of his calling has met w ith the most encouraging success, the 
eightv barrels per day capacity of the mill being inadequate to supply the con- 
stantly growing demand for a grade of flour, which has few if any equals 
and has no superior in the markets of central Michigan and elsewhere. 

In addition to his milling interests, Mr. Field owns a small though 
highly imi)roved and \alu;il:le farm near Shepherd, to the cultixntion of 
which he devotes considerable attention, and he is also the possessor of other 
property in the town, being in independent circumstances and among the 
financially solid and influential men of his part of the country. He manifests 
an abiding interest in all that pertains to the progress of the community along 
material lines, a.ssists to the extent of his ability every enterpri.se having for 
its object the social and moral advancement of his fellow men and has made 
his influence especially felt in secret benevolent work, being an active member 
of Salt Ri\er Lodge Xo. 288, Free and Accepted Masons, Shepherd Lodge 
X'o. J3<). Indeiicndent Order of Odd I'ellows, the Knights of Pythias lodge at 
Mt. Pleasant, and the Knights of the Maccabees in the town of his residence. 
In his political affiliation he is a Democrat, and in religion a Methodist, hoid- 

(40) 



626 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

ing membership with the churcli of that denomination at Shepherd, and for a 
number of years serving the congregation in tlie capacity of trustee. 

Airs. Field, whose birth occurred in the month of July, 1855. has borne 
her husband five children, whose names are as follows: Horace married Miss 
Hearst and lives in Shepherd, being his father's assistant in the mill: Xathan. 
whose wife was formerly Ella Hathaway, lives in Detroit, Michigan, and 
holds an important position in an automobile works of that city ; Mabel, a 
young lady of varied culture, who is especially talented as a singer, also 
artistic to a high degree, is still with her parents and a general favorite of the 
social circle in which she moves : Nellie, who also possesses musical ability of 
a high order, was graduated from the School of Music at Ann Arbor, and is 
now prosecuting her studies at Eureka College, Illinois : Ned, the youngest 
of the family, is in the employ of the Dime Savings Bank of Detroit, Michi- 
gan, and is "making good." He is a young man of fine mind and his laudable 
ambition to excel bespeaks for him a distinguished career in the profession 
which he proposes to make his life work. 



LAWRENCE B. MILLER. 

Conspicuous among the up-to-date agriculturists and public-spirited citi- 
zens of Isabella county is Lawrence B. Miller, who was born on the farm 
in Rolland township where he now lives. May 17, 1879. His father, the 
late Andrew Jackson Miller, was a native of Ohio, and his mother, who 
prior to her marriage was Elizabeth Pratt, was born near Coral, Mont- 
calm county, Alichigan. His father came to Michigan about 1870 and 
worked in the lumber woods about four years. He was married .\pril 
5, 1874. and located on the quarter section of land in Rolland township 
which their son Lawrence now owns and lived there the remainder of their 
days, Mr. Miller improving the farm in the meantime and taking high rank 
as a successful tiller of the soil. He was a man of good mind, sound, 
practical intelligence, took a leading part in the affairs of the township and 
county and, with his wife, was long an influential member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. His first wife dying in 1898, he afterwards married 
Mrs. Emma Kelly Miller, widow of the late George Miller, of this town- 
ship. Andrew J. Miller lived an honorable, upright life, fraught with much 
good to his fellow men. and entered into rest on the 20th day of February, 
1910. By his first marriage there were five children, namely: Lawrence 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICIIIGAX. 627 

B., tlie subject of this sketch; Alice, wife of Robert Banks: Cora, who 
married N'abs Tucker; Myrtle, wlio died in infancy, and rear!, wlio lives 
with his brother, Lawrence. His second wife bore him one child, a sun 
who answers to the name of Carl Miller. 

Reared amid tlie active duties of country life and Ijeing tiie oldest of 
llie family, Lawrence B. Miller was early taught the necessity of industry 
and while still a mere youth much of the labor of the farm devolved upon 
him. .\t the proper age he began his studies in what is known as the Miller 
school and continued the same until obtaining a practical knowledge of 
the common school branches, the meanwhile assisting his father with the 
labor of the farm and growing up a strong, well developed young man, 
admirably calculated by nature and training for the part he was soon to 
play in the great struggle of life. On February 15. 1900, shortly after 
attaining his majority, he was married in Broomfield township, this county, 
to Maggie Hutchinson, daughter of John and Isabella Hutchinson, and at 
once began farming for himself on the home place, which subsequently 
came into his possession, and on which he has since lived. 

Mr. Miller is one of the most progressive agriculturists of the town- 
ship in which he resides, and his farm of one hundred and sixty acres is 
well improved with good buildings, fences, etc.. and compares favorably 
with any like area of cultivated land in the county. He devotes careful 
attention to the soil, which is kept in fine condition by judicious rotation 
and ample fertilization, and he .seldom fails to realize handsome returns from 
the abundant crops which the farm every year produces. By planting fruit 
and .shade trees, he has not only added to his income, but also to the at- 
tractiveness of the farm, which is among the most beautiful and desirable 
places of residence in Rolland township, every feature bearing evidence of 
the presence of a man of taste as well as of a master of his calling. Mr. 
Miller manifests a lively interest in public matters and lends his influence 
to all means for the improvement of the county and the development of 
its resources, .\mong his neighbors and friends he is highly regarded, and 
his relations with his fellow men have ever been honorable and his in- 
tegrity above criticism. He holds membership with the Knights of the 
^L^ccabees and the Order of Gleaners. He does all within his power to 
promote the welfare of the community along material lines, and is not in- 
different to the social and moral improvement of his neighborhood. Finan- 
cially his success has been very gratifying and. as indicated in a preceding 
paragraph, he is today among the substantial, well-to-do farmers and en- 
terprising citizens of the township in which he lives. 



628 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

ISAAC N. SHEPHERD. 

Conspicuous among the representative business men and public-spirited 
citizens of Isabella county and one who has long been an interested partici- 
pant in the development of the town of Shepherd, is the well-known gentle- 
man whose name forms the caption of this biographical review. Mr. Shep- 
herd has made his influence felt for good in his community, being a man of 
sterling worth, whose life has been closely intervowen with the history of this 
locality and whose efforts have always been for the material advancement of 
the same, as well as for the social and moral welfare of his fellow men. The 
well regulated life he has led, thereby gaining the respect and admiration 
of his fellow citizens, entitle? him to representation in a biographical work of 
the scope intended in the present volume. He comes of a sterling old family, 
the Shepherds having been identified with the progress of Isabella county from 
the pioneer days, from the epoch of the interminable forest and wild beast 
and the red man to the present. 

Isaac N. Shepherd is a native of the old state of Vermont, his birth 
having occurred on December 31, 1840, and is the son of Robert and Ann 
(Leach) Shepherd, natives of England, where they spent their youth and 
from which country they emigrated to New England in 1834, where they 
made their hojiie until 1856, when they emigrated west and took up their 
abode in Coe township, Isabella county, Michigan. There they established 
their home, beginning life in true pioneer fashion, and underwent the hard- 
ships and privations incident to the usual life of the first settler, and here they 
spent the remainder of their lives, having been deceased now a number of 
years. The father was a man of strong characteristics and was a hardy and 
influential citizen in the first development period of the county, a man whom 
all honored for his integrity and honor. 

Isaac N. Shepherd, of this review, was thirteen years of age when he 
came with his family to Hillsdale county, Michigan. He had received some 
schooling in the common schools of his native community, but conditions being 
very primitive in Michigan, he had little opportunity to gain an advanced 
education. In January, 1856, he came to Isabella county. His brother was 
one of the two men to cut the first road or trail from Pine river, near where 
the town of Alma now stands, to Salt creek (or Salt fork), in the fall 
1854. Here the subject grew to maturity and assisted in the work of develop- 
ing a farm in the wilderness, not an easy task by any means, but he was a 
husky lad and never shirked the hard duties devolving upon him. In 1861 he 
began buying land and continued to the present time. In 1884 he owned 



ISABFLLA COl'NTY, MICHIGAN. 629 

over two thoiisaiul acres. He has been very successful in all his operations 
and lias l(in,a; been one of the most substantial men of the county, one nf the 
most acti\c in intiustrial aftairs. He Iniilt a large, convenient and custK- resi- 
dence in 1873 on his farm west of Salt River village and in 1885 he platted 
the \ illage of Shepherd on said fann and later when the village of Shepherd 
was incorporated it took in the village of Salt River and thus it also became 
a part of the village of Shepherd. In 1884 he operated a shingle mill, and cut 
lath and lumber. He was very successful in this and his mill became widely 
known. 1 le became interested in the Lansing, Alma, Mt. Pleasant & North- 
ern railroad and was a director in the same and helped build said railroad 
from Alma to Shepherd, which was afterwards sold to the Toledo, Ann 
Arbor & Northern Railroad Company and became a part of its line (now the 
Ann .\rl)or railroad). Fraternally he is a Mason and is a member of the Baj)- 
tist church, and politically he is a Prohibitionist. He has for several years 
been president of the Commercial State Bank of Shepherd. 

Mr. Shepherd was married in Jackson. Michigan, on January 3. 
1864. to Catharine Xeely. (iaughter of Jolin and Rachael (Sloat) Xeely, a 
fine old family of this state. To Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd the following chil- 
dren have been born: John L., Jennie L., Franklin S. (died when fourteen 
years of age), Annie R. and William L N. Mr. Shepherd's first wife, Cath- 
arine, died on March 10. 1910, and Mr. Shepherd was married to his second 
wife, Leila B., daughter of Ellis and Syrion (Gates) Faunce, of Shepherd, 
Isabella county, Michigan. 

Personally Mr. Shepherd is a man of generous impulses, a good mixer. 
a man of good judgment and sound business principles, whom to know is to 
admire and respect, for his character has ever l>een above reproach. 



WILLIAM HEXRY WALLIXG. 

Prominent among the old and well-known residents of Isabella county 
is William Henry Walling, who has been identified with this part of Michi- 
gan about forty years, during which time he has not only seen the country 
developed from its original wilderness condition to a very garden of beauty 
and plenty, but to the extent of his ability has contributed towards making 
the township in which he resi<les among the finest and most prosperous 
communities in the commonwealth. Mr. Walling is a native of St. Law- 
rence countv. New York, lx)rn in the town of Gouverneur January 17. 



630 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

183 1. His father. William Walling, also a New Yorker, was born in Hart- 
ford, Washington county, March 27, 1798, and on October 30, 1824, mar- 
ried Polly Smith, whose birth occurred in the same county and state, August 
21. 1808. \\'illiam \\'alling was a farmer by occupation and lived a long 
and useful life, dying in St. Lawrence county. New York. October 30. 
1878. in his seventy-ninth year, his wife sur\-iving him until 1883, when 
she too was called to her eternal rest, dying in Fort Edward, Washington 
county. New York. 

William Henry Walling spent his childhood and youth on the family 
homestead in his native state where in early life he became familiar with 
the duties of the farm, and later learned the trade of shoemaking, which 
trade he followed during the winter months, and at other times when the 
weather would not admit of outdoor labor. In the meantime, as oppor- 
tunities afforded, he attended the schools of the neighborhood until ac- 
quiring a fair knowledge of the common branches. On arriving at an age 
to begin the struggle of life for himself he chose agriculture for his voca- 
tion, which, with his trade, afforded him a comfortable, though by no means 
an affluent, livelihood as long as he remained in the state of his birth. 
Thinking to better his condition in the West, where land was cheap, he dis- 
posed of his interests in New York in 1866 and came to Isabella county, 
Michigan, purchasing, in partnership with his brother-in-law, A. J. Gibbs, 
a quarter section of land in Coe township, which in due time he cleared and 
otherwise improved and on which he lived and prospered during the twenty- 
five years ensuing. At the expiration of that time he sold his farm and 
moved to the town of Salt River (now Shepherd), where for a period of 
twenty-five years he carried on the grocery trade with success and financial 
profit, building up a large and lucrative business in the meantime and taking 
high rank among the leading merchants of the county. Disposing of his 
business at the end of the time indicated, he discontinued active pursuits and 
since then has been living in retirement at Shepherd in the enjoyment of 
the material blessings which came to him as a result of his capable man- 
agement and well directed thrift. 

Mr. Walling early manifested an interest in the public affairs of his 
township and county, and at intervals was elected to various local offices, 
in all of which he discharged his duty with commendable fidelity and proved 
worthy the confidence of his fellow citizens. He was the first drainage 
commissioner of Isabella countv. served se\'eral years as justice of the peace, 
and as a local school officer did much to promote the cause of education in 
the township in which he resided. In politics he was originally a Republican, 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MKIllGAN. 63 1 

and for many years laljorcd earnestly for the success of tliat party, but 
becoming cbssatislied with its attitude on the licjuor questi(jn, he subsequently 
became a Prohibitionist and is now an uncomjjromising supporter of the 
principles which lie espouses and an unyielding foe of tiie saloon, which 
he looks upon as tlie crying evil of tlie age. to he gotten rid of only by 
stringent legislation. 

Mr. Walling was married in Hartford. Xew \'ork. l'"ei)ruarv lo. i860, 
to Anzolettie Brayton, who was born Se])teml>er 16. 1841. in Washington 
county. Xew York, the daughter of .\m!)y and Lydia Ann Brayton, natives 
of that state, tlie union resulting in tlie birth of one child, a son. Charles 
H.. who first saw the light of day in Hartford, Xew York, October 12. 1861, 
and who is now a well-known and highly esteemed citizen of Coe township. 
Isabella county. He has been twice married, the first time to Halley Stahl- 
man : sul)sec|uently he contracted a matrimonial alliance with his present 
wife, whose name was formerl\- Anna F>abber. 

Mr. Walling is essentially a man of the people. deei)ly interested in 
all that concerns the welfare of the community, and although in his eighty- 
first year, he retains to a luarked degree the ])ossession of his faculties, 
both physical and mental, and keeps abreast of the times on the leading 
questions and issues before the public, being ever ready to defend the i)rin- 
ciples to which he has pledged allegiance. Among his neighbors and friends 
he is held in great respect, as his life has ever been along the lines of iiv 
tegrity and probity and he always maintained inviolate the iionorable repu- 
tation for which his famil\- lune alwavs been distinguished. 



lOHX S. WEIDM.\X. 



Success i* not necessarilv a matter of genius, as held by many, but 
rather the outcome of clear judgment, persistency and rightly applied en- 
ergy. The successful man is he who plans his own advancement and ac- 
complishes it in spite of oiiposition. Difficulties and obstacles will- always 
disappear before determination and unfaltering energy, and. while the road 
to prosperitv does not seem ])lain, there can e\er be found a i)ath leading 
to the goal, of one's hopes: but one must be willing to fight, for the l)attle 
of life is never won by the timid and. hesitating, at least in anything. but a 
mediocre degree. Among the worthy and progressive citizens of Isabella 
countv us folm S> Wcidman. well-known lumlierman and Itankcr. who has 



632 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

gained a prestige in the business world through his own efforts — sheer force 
of his individuahty, a truly deserving, self-made man. 

Mr. Weidman was born in Kenockee township, St. Clair county, Michi- 
gan, May 10, 1852, where he continued to reside until fourteen years of 
age, when his parents moved to a fami in Mecosta county, twelve miles 
south of Big Rapids, on the Muskegon river. Mr. Weidman attended school 
in winter until he was seventeen years of age, starting in life as a river 
driver at that time, going out into the world to make his own living, and 
his ambition, physical courage and endurance manifested all along the road 
of life, has resulted in winning large success and accumulating a compe- 
tency. He worked on the Muskegon river during the summers as a log 
runner until he was twenty-five years old and in the woods in the winters, 
being foreman of various lumber operations. On July 3, 1877, at Big 
Rapids, was performed the ceremony that united Mr. Weidman and Mar- 
garet A. :\Iitchell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William G. ]\Iitchell, of that 
city, and this union has resulted in the birth of six children, namely : Lenora 
D., Mildred A., John S., Jr., Robert, Lucille and Evan, all of whom are 
living, the oldest son, John S., Jr., being engaged in the lumber business in 
upper Michigan. 

After his marriage Mr. Weidman engaged in the lumbering business 
six miles south of Morley, taking contracts on which he cleared $1,000 
during the first winter. He continued lumbering for the next nine years, 
in the meantime developing the farm which he had previously purchased. 
In 1887 he had added very largely to his farm, and, as there was considerable 
good timber, he erected a saw mill which he successfully operated for the 
next si.x years, cutting his own timber and buying other in the neighborhood, 
cutting in all about twenty-five million feet. In 1892 he purchased a large 
tract of timber land in Hinton and Millbrook townships, Mecosta county, 
which he afterward sold. In 1893 he purchased a tract of several thousand 
acres of timbered lands in Isabella county, where he erected saw, shingle 
and planing mills, founding the village of Weidman, and where for sixteen 
years he conducted very extensive lumbering operations, cutting ten million 
feet of lumber annually. In addition to cutting into lumber the logs which 
came from his own land Mr. Weidman purchased very extensively from ad- 
joining ow'uers. The village of Weidman is now recognized as one of the most 
thriving villages of this section and, with the fine farming country which 
surrounds it, it is destined to become a place of considerable importance. 
In 1903 Mr. \\'eidman purchased the private bank of Webber & Ruel in 
Mt. Pleasant, which was later incorporated as a state bank under the name 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 633 

of the Isabella County State Bank, of which institiUuMi he is the largest 
stockholder and president. He is also president of tlie Weidman. Hanking 
Company and the Roselnish Hanking Company. In Sei)teml)er, 1905, Mr. 
Weidman moved his family to Mt. Pleasant, where he resides at the corner 
of Main and Maple streets. .Mr. \\ei(hii,in is a tliirty-second-degree Mason, 
and in politics a Repul)lican. lie is an attendant at and a supporter of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. 

Mr. Weidman is regarded by all as a man of unusual business qualifica- 
tions, keen, alert, far-seeing and a man who is capable of predicting with 
remarkable accuracy the outcome of a present transaction. He is straight- 
forward and honest in all his relations with his fellow men and is in every 
way deserving of tlie high esteem in which he is held by everyone. His 
word has never been questioned, his integrity in all things being well known 
and he. therefore, has the confidence and good will of all classes. 



JOSEPH ^HSER. 



George Miser, the father of the gentleman whose name appears above, 
was born in Maryland in 1812 and when about eighteen months old was 
taken by his parents to Ohio where he spent his childhood and youth amid 
the wholesome di.scipline of country life, the meanwhile acquiring a limited 
education in the indifferent schools of those days. In 1R58 lie came to 
Isabella county, Michigan, and purchased the southwest quarter of section 
5, Coe township, which he improved in due time and on which he carried on 
general farming until his death, in August. 1866. His wife, whose maiden 
name was Sophia Reidler. a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, sur- 
vived him until 1886. on June T4th of which year she too was called to 
her eternal rest. The family of this couple consisted of six children, of 
whom the subject is the oldest, the others in the order of their birth being 
as follows: Win, who married .\bbie Wanch: Susan, who liecame the wife 
of George Ferris: Mrs. Salome Shaffrey: Solomon, who never married, and 
Mary, wife of Charles Bennett, of Mt. Pleasant, all decea.sed except Joseph 
and Mrs. Bennett. 

Joseph Miser was born January 28, 1831, in Holmes county. Ohio, 
and when al>out four years of age was taken to Wayne county, that state. 
There he grew to maturity and while still young learned the carpenter's 
trade. He worked at his trade in Tuscarawas county for a period of six 



634 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

years and in 1854 entered the marriage relation witli Wealthy Ann Minard, 
whose liirth occurred in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, June 20, 1836, fol- 
lowing wliich he came to Isabella county, Michigan, and in April, 1858, 
settled on a farm in Coe township with his parents, with whom he li\-ed 
one year. He then purchased forty acres of land in section 7 of the same 
township, a part of which he cleared, but in January following he discon- 
tinued work in the woods and took up his residence at Indian Mills, the 
oldest town in the county, where he entered the employ of the government 
to construct a bridge across the Chippewa river and erect a council cham- 
ber, in which the Indians and whites could hold their public meetings, make 
treaties aufl transact other kinds of business. He remained two and one- 
half years in that town, during which time he erected a store building and 
hotel in addition to the work mentioned, besides doing various other kinds 
of mechanical labor and proving one of the useful citizens of the place. 

At the expiration of the period indicated, Mr. Miser, in 1862. moved 
to Mt. Pleasant and built the first dwelling on the northwest corner of the 
courthouse square, which he occupied while attending to his duties as sheriff, 
having been the second man in the county elected to that office. Although 
a Democrat, his name was not placed on a ticket, the citizens indicating 
their choice by \oting for whom they, pleased, the result of the balloting 
showing a large majority for Mr. Miser, who appears to have been a favor- 
ite with the people of the county irrespective of, party. , His term expired 
in 1863, and shortly after quitting the office J;ie| , piitepf|d, the army enlisting 
on August 26th of that year jn Company M. First Michigan Engineers and 
Mechanics, in which capacity he served until •September,: 1,865. .when he ^^'^is 
discharged on account of physical ,di6abiUty„ after- spending, .about four months 
in a hospital in Louisville, , Kentucky,-. ■ Returning hon,ie.,at the ,c]ose of, the 
war, he traded his, property in ,,Mt. ■ Pleasaiit ,for, an rcighty-acre farm, in 
Union township on which, he lived as an industrious and prosperous tille;- 
of the soil until about the year 1897, ^^'le" be discontinued active, labor. to 
spend the remainder of his- life in retirement.- Mr. Miser has, evei" mani- 
fested a commendable, i.nterest- in.- public affairs, served, one year as con- 
stable and foin- years- as commissioner of -highways, besides taking an active 
]5art in promoting enterprises for the material a.d\-ancement .of his township 
and county and the social and moral welfare of his fellowmen. A firm be- 
liever in the Christian religion and a faithful member of the church of God, 
his daily life has been consistent with his profession and his influence is 
ever on the side of right where moral issues are involved. He stands for 
law and order and a high standard of manhood, and as a citizen is enter^ 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 635 

prising, puhlic-spin'ted. and always ready to lose sight of self in his efforts 
to help others. He was a prominent factor in county affairs in an early 
day and it was largely through his efforts that the seat of justice was moved 
from Indian Mills to Mt. Pleasant. In the fall of 1838 he helped gather 
three bushels of blackl)erries on the site of llie present courthouse, and among 
his other early experiences was the maUing of a trip to Detroit to obtain 
money with which to i)urchase lantl. going as far as St. Joiiu on foot and 
tliere taking a train to his destination. Witli two tiiousand dollars tied in 
a handkerciiief. whicii he fastened around his body, he returned in safety, 
but felt not a few misgivings lest somebody might learn of the sum in his 
possession and relieve him of the burden. Mr. Miser has not only seen 
Isabella county d(.'\elo])c(l from a wilderness into its present proud ]xisition 
among the most i)rosperous counties of the state, but to the extent of his 
al)ility lias contributed to th.e Ijringing al)out of conditions that now obtain. 
He takes pride in the county, has faith in the future, and hopes ere long 
to see it the rival of tlie most enterprising and progressive counties of the 
commonwealtii. 

Mrs. Miser's parents were John and Mary (Hoagland) Minard. Iwtli 
natives of New \\)rk. Iwrn in the years 1812 and 1813. respectively; the 
father died in the year 1842. Mr. and Mrs. Miser have children as fol- 
lows: Leandcr O.. wlio married Mary Converse, and lives in Hillsdale 
countv. Micliigan; Ella, wife of Thomas Hannett. lives in Coe township. 
Isabella county: Ida May married Eli Farris. a farmer of L'nion township: 
Ely. who lives in Solon, this state, is also married, his wife having formerly 
been Carrie Teel : William D.. the youngest of the family, married Celia 
Greacher. and resides in Coe. 



ORIOX L. BURDICK. 

.\mong the enterprising, progressive and public-spirited men whose ac- 
tivity in l)usiness and private circles as well as public affairs has made 
Isabella countv one of the best sections of the great Wolverine state and 
the town in which lie resides an important trading center, is the gentleman 
whose name forms the caption of this biographical review, who is now en- 
gaged jjrincipally in the real estate business in Shepherd, but whose reputa- 
tion rests principally as an educator, in which line of endeavor he holds 
rank second to none. 



636 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Orion L. Burdick was bom on October 15, 1865, and is the son of 
Daniel and Mary (Hackett) Burdick. his father born in 1843 '^ ^^ ihiams 
county, Ohio, and the latter born in Jamestown, Ontario, August 15, 1847, 
but she came to the United States when a child and was reared in Ohio. 
The parental grandparents were Lewis and Rachael (Cook) Burdick, na- 
tives of Massachusetts and New York, respectively. Daniel Burdick re- 
mained in his home country until he was thirty-eight years old. He served 
through the Civil war in the Federal army, principally in Tennessee. He 
was with Sherman on his Atlanta campaign. In 1865 he bought eighty acres 
in Lincoln township. Isabella county. He took charge of the land when it 
was a wilderness, through which he had to cut roads and clear and improve 
in general, erecting a splendid set of buildings. The place is now owned by 
the brother-in-law of the subject and the father is now living in Lincoln 
township on a farm. 

Mar}^ Hackett was born in 1850. in Ontario, Canada, and she and 
Mr. Burdick were married in Ohio about 1862. The following children 
were born to them: Orion, of this review; Ernest E., Theron D.. Grace, 
and Bessie. The mother of these children is still living. 

Orion L. Burdick, of this review, received his education in the district 
school and he worked on the home farm during the summer months in his 
youth. He attended the high school in Mt. Pleasant and was graduated 
from the same in 1889, completing what was known as the English course. 
Then for three years he taught in the district schools, two years at Loomis, 
in Wise township, and one in Lincoln township. He had a second grade 
certificate and served five years on the board of examiners for teachers. 
After he finished teaching at Loomis he attended the Ypsilanti Normal 
School for two years, graduating with a life certificate. He then taught 
in Shepherd one year, was superintendent of schools there, and he was 
elected school commissioner, serving two terms of two years each, in a 
manner that brought him much praise from all classes, and during that 
time he did a great deal to promote the cause of education here. 

Mr. Burdick was married on June 19. 1897, to Lotta Hibbard. at Alma. 
She was born July 10. 1878, in Mt. Pleasant. This union has been graced 
by the birth of one daughter. Frances Josephine, born December 30, 1907. 
Mrs. Burdick's mother, who is now living in Shepherd, is a sister of Frank 
and Judge Dodds. of Mt. Pleasant. 

After attending the literary department of the University of Michigan 
one year. Mr. Burdick taught one year in the normal at Mt. Pleasant, teach- 
ing civics, English, United States and general history. He made a splendid 



ISABFLLA COUXTV. MICHIGAN. 637 

record as an instructor and liis services were in great demand. Init lie gave 
up teaching to go in business with his father-in-law. Frank Hibbard, in 
1903. He has been very successful in this, carrying on insurance, loan and 
real estate business on an extensive scale: he also does a little law business 
in justice courts, but because of lack of time he does not go into the law 
very extensively. This partnership was continued until February 8. igo8, 
when Mr. Hibbard died, since which time Mr. Burdick has continued the 
business alone in Shepherd, but he has a real estate office in Mt. Pleasant 
with his brother. Tie is a Republican in politics, and he takes an abiding 
interest in all matters looking to the general good of his county. 



ALLEN E. CL.ARK. 



.\llcn E. Clark, lumber dealer at Shepherd, and one of the leading 
business men of his part of the country, was born February 8, 1834, at Fort 
Covington, I'ranklin county, Xew York. When about three or four years 
old. he was taken by his parents to St. Lawrence county, that state, and at 
the age of ten accompanied the family to Michigan, making the journey from 
Qgdenburg to Saginaw by boat and from the latter place to Isabella county 
by dri\ing overland. He remained with his parents until reaching the 
years of manhood and in the meantime attended at intervals the ])ublic schools 
of Isabella county, devoting the larger portion of each year to various kinds 
of manual labor. 

At the age of twenty-five. Mr. Clark married I'hene .Austin, who was 
l)om in Ingham county, Michigan. January i^, 1857, being a daughter of 
Thomas and Lucy (Hull) .\ustin. early residents of that part of the state 
and among the esteemed people of the town of Leslie where Mrs. Clark spent 
her childiiood and youth, .\fter the subject's marriage he settled on his 
father-in-law's place, where he remained one year and then purchased forty 
acres of land in Lincoln townsln'p. Isabella county, for which he paid the 
sum of five hundred and fifty dollars, and which he sold three years later for 
one thousand dollars. On leaving the latter place he went to Reed City 
where he was engaged in the lumber business about one year wnth another 
party, during which time he did fairly well, clearing about eight 
hundred dollars, part of which he invested in two town lots at Shepherd. 

Erecting a commodious dwelling on one of the lots, he made the i)lace 
his home for a period of three years, about one-half of which time he worked 



638 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

on the railroad, devoting the remainder to the manufacture of lumber in 
partnership with a friend, whose interest in the mill he purchased at the end 
of two years. 

During the ensuing five years. ]\Ir. Clark operated a saw mill in Lincoln 
township and did a thriving business, but at the expiration of that period he 
moved the mill to the town and took his brother, Sydney, as a partner. Under 
the firm name of Clark Brothers, the enterprise was continued for four years 
when the subject bought his partner's interest and during the six months 
ensuing conducted the business alone. In 1901 he sold the mill and em- 
barked in the lumber business at Shepherd, where he has since built up a 
large and lucrative patronage, his sales, which amounted to about five thou- 
sand dollars the first year, having gradually increased until they are now 
considerably in excess of eighteen thousand dollars per year, with encouraging 
prospects of still larger gro^vth in the future. iMr. Clark owns the only lum- 
ber yard in the town and. having no competition in his line, his advancement 
has been very encouraging. He handles lumber, lath, shingles, moulding and 
\arious other kinds of building material, also brick, cement, lime, wood pulp, 
etc., and owns the yard, sixty-six by three hundred and sixty-six feet, on 
which his business is conducted. He has other town property, including three 
substantial residences, one of which he occupies, and manifests an active inter- 
est in all that concerns the material prosperity of the community and the 
social and moral well being of his fellow men. 

Mr. Clark stands high in business circles and as a citizen is enterprising, 
public spirited and alive to all that makes for the good of the community. 
He holds membership with Salt Ri\er Lodge No. 288, Free and Accepted 
Masons; Shepherd Lodge Xo. 239, hitlependent Order of Odd Fellows, which 
he joined at the age of twenty-one, and is also identified with Tent Xo. 237, 
Knights of the Maccabees, at Shepherd. In religion, he is a Methodist and 
for a number of years has been an active and influential worker in the church, 
being a leader in the congregation at Shepherd and zealous in disseminating 
the gospel among his fellow men both at home and abroad. His father was 
a life-long Democrat and from boyhood he was subject to the iniluence of 
that party, but of recent ye?rs he has been independent politically, \oting for 
the best qualified candidates, regardless of party ties. 

Mr. Clark has been honored from time to time with important public 
trusts, and in everv relation of life has shown himself worthy of the confidence 
reposed in him by his fellow citizens. He served four years as secretary of 
the school board, was justice of the peace one term and a member of the 
school board at the present time. He is a stockholder in the Commercial 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 639 

State I'.atik of Shepherd, and is also interested in tlie canninjj factory at tiie 
same place, besides being it'entitied with utiier utiHties and enterprises which 
tend to the grmvth of the town. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have no children of 
their own, nevertheless they are deeply interested in the young people of the 
community and do all within their power to inculcate in them the .sterling 
principles of manhood and womanhood, to the end that they may grow up 
to useful lives and fill honorable positions in the world. Like her husband. 
Mrs. Clark is devoutly religious and her activity in the church has made her 
life a strong influence for good among all with whom she mingles. 

Robert Clark, father of the subject, was born in Franklin county. .\ew 
York, in 1807 and remained in his native state until 1864. In the latter vear 
he moved to Isabella county. Michigan, and purcha.sed one hundred and sixty 
acres of land in section 14. Coe townshi]). all wooded and rec|uiring much 
labor to clear and improve. Later he disposed of half of the tract and in 
due time cleared up the remaining eighty acres and converted it into a fine 
farm and comfortable home. He lived on this place about twenty-one years, 
when, owing to advancing age, he discontinued active labor and mo\ed to 
Shepherd, where he spent the remainder of his days in retirement, dying in 
1903 at tlie ripe old age of ninety-six years. His wife Martha, the daughter 

of Francis and Betsey , was born in Cornwall, Canada, in 1820, and 

when young accompanied her parents to New York where, in 1840, she be- 
came the wife of Robert Claik. She bore her husband the following children : 
Myron, deceased: Sydney died in tiie fall of 1909; Hudson died in the year 
1862. while in the army; ^liIton li\es in Coe township and took care of his 
mother, who died November 9, 1910, at the age of ninety-one; Daney died 
in 1908; .\llen of this review; Robert, who married Sarah Dunn and resides 
in Isabella county: .Anna, wife of Charles Belch, of Shepherd; and Henry, 
who departed this life at tlie age of twenty-three. 



WILLIAM J. MAXWELL. 

One of the most evident things to the thoughtful farmer is the fact 
that life at no stage is a bed of roses. There are thorns, and many of them, 
along the path of farming life, and the luckiest ones are they who are pierced 
by the fewest and avoid the most. .\nd this being the case it often becomes 
necessary for us to help one another along the road of life. William J. 
Maxwell, popular and successful farmer of Wise township, Isal>ella county. 



640 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

is one who believes in the motto, "Live and let live." He believes in honest 
emulation and fair competition and is willing to march side by side with 
his fellow creatures and take his chances with the rest, giving them their 
dues and taking his own. He was born in Hastings county, Ontario, Canada, 
in 1852, the son of Robert and Jane (Joyce) Maxwell, both natives of 
Ireland. He never had an opportunity to attend school, for when he was 
six years of age he was taken by his parents into the woods where there 
were no schools, so the opportunity ne\'er presented itself until he was 
past school age, but he has become a well posted man by actual contact 
with the world. He remained with his father on the farm until he was 
sixteen years of age, then was apprenticed at six dollars per month for two 
seasons to learn carpentering; he also studied general textbooks at the same 
time. The next season he received twelve dollars per month, then worked 
as a millwright for five years at twenty dollars per month. In 1879 he 
came to Isabella county and settled in section 6, Wise township. His 
father bought eighty acres in section 5 ; the son's land, forty acres, was 
all in timber and there were no roads here then. He continued to work as 
a carpenter and builder and bridge builder imtil 1891. He built bridges 
for the Ann Arbor railway for three years at eighty dollars per month, 
working from Clare to Frankfort. He was regarded by the company is 
an expert in his line and one of their most valued and trusted employes. 
As a carpenter his work was in great demand, being of a high grade. 

Mr. Maxwell was married, first, in 1882 to Christina Marlin, of Hast- 
ings county, Ontario, and subsequently to Augustes Wheeler, also of Hast- 
ings county, Ontario, and she died five months aftenvards ; his third mar- 
riage was to Clara Mc James, and was solemnized in 1891. She was a 
native of Essex county, Ontario. Two children were born of his first 
marriage, George, who has remained single, owns a "bus" line in Duluth, 
and operates the same ; Jane A. married John Horden and lives at Flint, 
Michigan. The children by his third marriage were Bertrand, Carl, Nellie. 
Arthur, Grace, Ralph and Marion. 

In 1891 Mr. Maxwell came to his father's old farm and has resided 
here ever since, carrying on general farming in a very successful manner 
on his one hundred and twenty acres, having seventy-eight acres under cul- 
tivation ; he raises corn, oats, wheat, sugar beets and hay. His land is all 
well fenced ; the county ditch runs through the place and it is well im- 
proved in every respect. He has a substantial, cozy and attractive dwelling 
and excellent outbuildings and e\erything about his place is neat and well 
kept, showing good management. 



ISABELLA COLNTY, MICHIGAN. 64I 

Mr. Maxwell was the first school director in district Xo. 3. when it 
was formed, and he was again elected in 1891 and remained director until 
this district was consolidated with district Xo. 2. He still holds office as 
director. lie was township treasurer two terms and for three years lie was 
secretary and treasurer of the Gleaners. He was secretary and treasurer 
of the Herrickfull Cream Cheese Company for three years, was a stockholder 
and on the board of directors. Politically, he is a Republican, and is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church : for the past twenty years or 
more he has lieen a trustee of the church, also served as steward and in 
other capacities. He has been an influential factor in local affairs ever 
since he came here and he is well and favorably known and has a wide 
circle of friends. 



REUBEX WELLMAN. 

This representative citizen and gallant soldier of the greatest civil war 
in the annals of time, is a native of Genesee county, Xew York, and dates 
his l)irth from September 18, 1833. He was reared to maturity in that state 
and after the death of his mother, which occurred when he was eight years 
old. was apprenticed to a farmer of his native county, with whom he remained 
until attaining his majority, the meanwhile during the winter months attending 
the public schools until well versed in the branches constituting the usual 
course of study. After serving his term, he came to Michigan with his 
brother, Almon. His brother John had preceded him three years before and 
during the two years ensuing he was in partnership with the latter in the 
manufacture and sale of clinin pumps, in wliicli business he traveled in vari- 
ous parts of the state and met with fair success as a salesman. While thus 
engaged, he formed the acrp'aintance of an estimable young lady l)y tiie name 
of \'elissa Godfry, whom he subsequently married, after which he returned 
to his native state, where he followed agricultural pursuits until 1862, when 
he exciianged the implements of husbandry for the death-dealing weapons of 
warfare, enlisting that year in Company G, One Hundred Sixtieth Xew York 
Infantry, with which he served with an honorable record until his discharge, 
in 1865, after giving two years and nine months to the defense of the national 
union. 

Mr. \Vellman"s regiment formed part of the .\rmy of the Potomac and 
participated in some of the most noted battles of the \'irginia campaign, in 
one of which, the engagement at Cedar Creek, he fell into the hands of the 
(41) 



642 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

enemy and for three weeks thereafter he was incarcerated in tlie old Liliby 
prison at Riclimond, Virginia. At the expiration of that time he, with many 
others equally unfortunate, was removed to Salisbury, North Carolina, where, 
on February 22, 1S65, he was paroled, immediately after which he returned 
to Michigan and has since made his home in this state. 

Mr. W'ellman's wife died while he was in the service, and later, on re- 
ceiving his discharge at the close of the war, he located on a forty-acre tract 
of land in Coe township. Isabella county, which he cleared and improved and 
in due time found himself the possessor of one of the best farms and among 
the most attractive homes in the section of country in which his place is 
situated. He moved to his land in July, 1865, and in the following September 
was united in marriage with Myra Sawyer, who has proven a true wife and 
helpmate, assisting him in his efforts to improve the farm and encouraging 
him in seasons when fortune did not always pave his pathway with favor. 

After spending ten years on the farm and accumulating a comfortable 
competency, Mr. Wellman removed to the town of Shepherd, where he is now 
living a life of retirement, although still in touch with his various enterprises 
and abreast of the times on rll matters of local and general interest. Twenty- 
seven years ago he was elected justice of the peace, which position he still 
holds and in which he has earned a creditable record as an officer of the law, 
much important business being brought to his court and so able and impartial 
ha\'e been his decisions that but few of them have been reversed bv higher 
tribunals. He also served three years as township treasurer and a similar 
length of time as constable, proving in these offices, as in that of justice of 
the peace, a wise and judicious public servant who made his duty paramount 
to every other consideration. Mr. Wellman votes the Republican ticket and 
has long been an active worker and influential adviser in the councils of his 
party, and to the various conventions, township and county and district and 
state, he is invariably chosen a delegate. He is a member of Salt River Lodge 
No. 288, Free and Accepted Masons, in which he has served as tyler and is 
also a leading spirit in Ralph Ely Post No. 150, Grand Army of the Republic, 
in which he has been honored with every position within the gift of his com- 
rades of the order. 

Mr. Wellman's first marriage was blessed with two children, Carrie S., 
wife of Clarence Struble, of Mt. Pleasant, and Hattie, whose hu.sband, I. N. 
Fordyce, died in July, 1910, since which time she has lived in the village of 
Shepherd. His present wife has borne him children as follows: Minnie, 
who married Noah Lyons, and made her home in Shepherd, died in 1900; 
Charles A., also a resident of that town and a married man, his wife having 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 643 

formerly been Bertha Wilson: Winifred 1). and Wilfred are twins, the former 
being single and li\ing with her father, the latter an eniplov of the Ann 
.\rbor railway, and lives at Owosso. where he has a home presided over by an 
intelligent and poi)nlar young lady, who. before marriage to him. resided in 
St. Louis, i\lichigan, and bore the name of Minnie Reed. 



EDWARD DUGGAN. 



The subject of this sketch was born .\ugust i6, 1863. on the Duggan 
famil\- homestead in Lincoln township and has been a resident of Isabella 
county all his life. His father, a native of Ireland, was born in 1822 and 
at the age of thirty-eight came to the United States, settling first in New 
■N'ork where he farmed a few years and then sold out and migrated to 
Isabella county, Michigan, locating on one hundred and sixty acres of land 
in section 36, Lincoln township, which he purchased from the government 
for fifty cents per acre, sixty dollars ])er acre being a conservative estimate 
of its value at the present time. Mr. Duggan and sons cleared the place of 
timber and by continuous toil succeeded in reducing the greater part of the 
land to cultivation besides making a number of substantial improvements 
in the way of buildings, fencing, etc., and reclaiming some of this farm by 
means of artificial drainage. When the father died he willed the place to 
his sons, by whom it is still owned. The mother of the subject, whose birth 
occurred in 1832, was a native of Ireland. She first met the man who after- 
wards became her hu.sband in Ypsilanti. Michigan, their marriage being 
.solemnized in that city in the year 1857. The following are the names of 
their children: Michael, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume; 
William, F.dward. Mary, wife of lames O'Brien: Katie, now Mrs. Henry 
Freeman, and Ella, who married John Fanning. 

Edward Duggan grew up on the homestead and as soon as his services 
could be utilized to advantage he was put to work in the fields, where he was 
soon able to do a man's part at almost any kind of manual later lie 
obtained a fair education during the years of his childhood and youth and 
remained at home until two years after his father's death, when he took posses- 
sion of the farm in Lincoln township which he now owns and on which he has 
achieve<l distinctive .success as an energetic and progressive agriculturist. Mr. 
Duggan's farm, which includes a part of his father's old farm and another 
tract adjoining, contains one hundred and sixteen acres of valuable land for 



644 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

which he has been offered the sum of fifty dollars jjer acre, and with the 
improvements he has added it is now among the most desirable fanns in the 
township. When he moved to the place it was in poor condition, but by 
energetic and systematic labor he has brought the soil to its present high state 
of tillage, increasing the productiveness of certain parts by judicious tile 
drainage and increasing the value of the whole by several substantial build- 
ings which he has erected from time to time. As a farmer he ranks among 
the most successful of his neighbors similarly engaged, being progressive in 
his methods, using the latest modern implements and machinery and man- 
aging his affairs with the good judgment and foresight characteristic of the 
master of his vocation. 

Mr. Duggan has never taken upon himself the duties and responsibilities 
of matrimony. He is popular with the large circle of friends with whom he 
associates and as a citizen is public-spirited to the extent of encouraging all 
measures for the advancement of the community materially and otherwise 
stands for law and order and uses his influence for the right on matters in- 
volving moral issues. Politically he votes with the Republican party and 
religiously is a Roman Catholic, belonging at this time to St. Patrick's church 
at Seville and manifesting a commendable interest in all the good work of 
the same, also contributing liberally of his means to the support of the parish. 
Personally he is a companionable gentleman of pleasing address and easily 
approachable, his integrity being unquestioned and his character above the 
suspicion of dishonor. He stands four square to every wind that blows, an 
honest man, whose \-eracity is beyond question and whose upright conduct 
has gained for him a conspicuous place among the representative citizens of 
the township in which he resides. 



B. CORNING SHAW, M. D. 

Holding distinctive prestige among the representatixe medical men of 
Isabella county is Dr. Bowman Corning Shaw, who has been practicing his 
profession at Rosebush since 1906, and who in the interim has achieved marked 
success in his calling as well as an honorable place in the esteem of the public. 
Although a native of Canada, Doctor Shaw's intecedents were originally 
from Massachusetts, removing thence in an early day to Nova Scotia and 
from there to the pro\ince of Ontario, where the Doctor was born on August 
31, 1856. His father, John Shaw, whose birth occurred at Yarmouth, Nova 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAX. 645 

Scotia, in 1829. was a seafaring man nntil mid life, after wiiich he I)ecame a 
farmer. Sarah \'ichery, his wife, also a native of Xova Scotia, was born July 
12, 1833, and is still li\inj; in St. Clair county. Michigan, her husl)and hav- 
ing died in the year 1904. 

The early life of Doctor Shaw was spent in his native county ni Kent, 
and in the countrv and grammar schools lie received his ])icliniinarv cdiica- 
tionai discipline. Later he took a six months' husiness course at Chatham. 
Oritario, following which he spent about the same time on the Atlantic coast 
for the benefit of his health, which had prexiously become somewhat shat- 
tered by reason of close confinement and hard study. Returning to Canada, 
he yielded to a desire of long standing by taking up the study of medicine 
which he pursued in the office of a local physician for two and a half years 
when he laid aside his books and during the two years ensuing served as a 
reporter on the Detroit Ccniiiicrcial Aih'ertiser. Severing his connection 
with the paper at the expiration of that time, he engaged in the jiractice of 
medicine at Niagara Falls under a preceptor with whom he continued one 
year and then opened an office of his own at the town of Rosebush. Isabella 
county. Michigan, where he remained twelve years, during which time he met 
with gratifying success and built up a very lucrative professional business. 
During his second year at the latter place, Dr. Shaw took the Michigan state 
medical examination and, receiving his degree, took a post-graduate course at 
Chicago Polyclinic, Chicago. Illinois, after which he located at Clare, where he 
practiced for six years and then returned to Rosebush, where he has since 
acquired a thriving patronage and taken high rank as a skillful physician and 
surgeon. 

Doctor Shaw is a close and conscientious student and he has ever aimed 
to l)ecome a true leader and a benefactor of his kind. To this end he has 
kept in touch with the latest advancements in the science of medicine, availing 
himself of every opportunity to add to his professional knowledge and efti- 
ciencv and. as alreadv stated, he now occupies a conspicuous place among the 
leading men of his calling in Isabella county and. being in the prime of his 
mental and phvsical powers, with a laudable ambition to succeed, it is eminent- 
ly fitting to predict for him still greater usefulness in years to come. Fra- 
ternally he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Order of 
Gleaners and Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Rosebush, in all of which 
societies he is an influential worker, besides holding official positions at various 
times in each. He is not indifferent to the public interests of the community 
in which he resides but manifests a lively regard for the general welfare of 
his fellow men and to the extent of his ability encourages all measures and 
enterprises with this object in view. 



646 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Doctor Shaw has been twice married, tlie first time in 1884 to Martha 
Sexsmith, who died in 1898 after bearing him the following children: John, 
born December 27, 1887, married Florence Hines and lives in the city of 
Flint, this state; Irene, born October 16, 1888, is the wife of Frank Cornwall 
and lives at Tecumseh, Michigan; Edward, born November 23, 1893, is single 
and lives at home; and Vera, the youngest of the number, was born October 
22,, 1894, and is a student of the Clare high school. The Doctor's second 
marriage was solemnized in 1904 with Orie Denman, whose birtli occurred 
on August 18, 1883, the union being blessed with two sons, Norman, born 
August 23, 1906, and Wayne, who first saw the light of day on April 23, 
1908. 



JOHN H. EDMONDS. 

Tlie gentleman of whom the biographer writes in this connection enjoys 
distinctive prestige as a farmer, and as a citizen he is interested in all that 
tends to promote the material prosperity of the community and benefit his fel- 
low men. John H. Edmonds was born November 16, 1865, in Calhoun 
county, Michigan, and spent his early life on his father's farm, receiving his 
educational training in the district schools. He remained in his native county 
until his twenty-second year when he went to Dallas county, Texas, and en- 
gaged in gardening. Becoming dissatisfied with the South, he returned to 
Michigan after an absence of nine months, and six months later came to Isa- 
bella county and bought the forty acres of land in section 20, Isabella town- 
ship, which in due time he cleared and improved and on which he still resides. 
Subsequently he purchased an additional forty-acre tract, which he likewise 
impro\"ed and at the present time his farm of eighty acres is not only one of 
the l^est in the township but compares favorably with any other of like area 
within the bounds of Isabella county. 

Mr. Edmonds stands for modern methods in farming and belie\-es that 
money put into improvements is wisely invested. To this end he has been 
unsparing of his means, erecting in 1894 a fine modern dwelling of ample 
size and imposing appearance, building one year later a large and commodious 
barn, twenty by sixty feet in dimensions, besides laying over two thousand 
rods of drain tile and putting up four hundred and twenty rods of woven 
• wire and one hundred rods of barbed wire fencing, to say nothing of \'arious 
outbuildings and other improvements, such as are found on first class, up-to- 
date farms. All but seven acres of his place is in cultivation and he raises 



ISABELLA COUNTV, MICHIGAN. 647 

ahiindam crops of strains, vegetables and fruits for wliich central Michigan 
is noteii, also ile\otes considcral)le attention to live stock, his cattle, sheep and 
hogs being of the l)est breeds and adding very materially to his income. 

Mr. Edmonds is an intelligent, wide-awake man who is ever alive to the 
best interests of tlic communit)' and ready at all times to use his intluence in 
furthering laudable means for the puiilic good. On national and state issues 
he votes the Kei)ublican ticket, but in local afifairs gives his support to the 
best candidates irrespective of political ties. He served one year as town- 
ship supervisor and for two years was treasurer of his township, in both posi- 
tions proving a very capable and obliging official and lca\ing nothing undone 
to aihance the interests of his jurisdiction. 

Jennie L. \'an Buren, wife of Mr. Edmonds, is a daughter of Epliraim 
and Olive (Myers) Van Bnren, both natives of Xew York. The former, 
who is a cousin of President Martin Van Buren, was born in 1818 and still 
li\ing, making his home at this time with the subject; the latter, whose birth 
occurred in 1822, departed this life in the year 1859. Mr. and Mrs. Edmon<is 
are the parents of children as follows: Clarence V. B.. born in 1885. married 
h'lorence Robertson and lives in Isabella township ; \'iola, whose birth oc- 
curred in the year 1877. is the wife of William Funnel, of the same town- 
ship: Zella. born in 1883, lives in Reno, Nevada, and Charles, also a resident 
of that city, was born in the year 1887. The father of the subject was 
Charles Edmonds, a native of Xew York, where his birth occurred in 1829. 
The mother, whose maiden name was Sara Ide, was Ijorn in that state in the 
year 1837. These parents were married in Battle Creek and their deaths oc- 
cin-reil in the years 1886 au'l 1904 respectively. 



GEORGE E. WELLER. 



This enterprising fariiKr and ex-soldier is a native of Orange comity. 
New York, where he was born in the year 1845. ^^'hen he was four years 
old, his parents moved to Michigan and from 1849 until the breaking out of 
the great Rebellion he lived on a farm and attended during the winter months 
such schools as were then common in this state. In i8r)i, when a mere youth 
of sixteen, he re.si)onded to the President's call for volunteers by enlisting in 
Companv I of the Twenty-second Michigan Infantry, with which he served 
for three years, during which time he took part in a number of campaigns and 
shared with his comrades the fortunes and vicissitudes of war on manv bloodv 



648 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

fields of conflict. On September 20, 1863, at tlie battle of Chickamauga, he 
recei\-ed a painfnl wound in the left ankle joint which necessitated his going to 
a hospital in Xashville, where he was treated for some weeks, later being re- 
moved to St. Mary's Hospital in Detroit where he remained until suiiticiently 
recovered to rejoin his regiment in June, 1864. At the expiration of his 
period of ser\ice, he was honorably discharged and. returning to Michigan 
immediately thereafter, began working by the month as a farm hand in 
Lix'ingston county, later being employed by the year in that and the county 
of Oakland, where he remained until mo\'ing to Isabella county in 1876. 

In the meantime, 1865, shortly after quitting the army, Mr. Weller was 
united in marriage with Mary Opdyke, whose birth occurred in Pennsylvania 
in 1846. When twehe years old she was taken to Iowa by her parents and, 
after spending three years in that state, came to Washtenaw county, Alichigan, 
where she grew to maturity. For several years following his marriage, Mr. 
Weller supported himself and wife as a farm laborer, but on coming to 
Isabella county he purchased land in section 25, Isabella township, which he 
improved and on which lie li\'ed during the seven years ensuing. At the 
expiration of that time, he disposed of his original purchase and moved to 
his present place of eighty acres in section 36 of the saine township where he 
has since resided and which, under his effective labor and judicious manage- 
ment, has been developed a"d improved until it now ranks among the l)est 
farms in the locality. 

Mr. Weller is a man of progressive tendencies, cultivates the soil ac- 
cording to modern methods and seldom fails to realize amply from the time 
and labor expended on his farm. He has cleared considerable of his land, 
made a considerable section of road and by judicious tile drainage has not 
only reclaimed much valuable soil, but greatly enhanced the productiveness of 
the land. He has good buildings, fine wdre fences, and all in all his farm is 
under an excellent state of cultivation and compares favorably with the best 
places of its area in the county. In politics he is a pronounced Republican, 
though not a partisan, and his fraternal relations are represented by the 
Wabano Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Mt. Pleasant, with which he 
has held membership for a number of years and in the deliberations of which 
he takes an active part. Mrs. Weller belongs to the Woman's Relief Corps, 
No. 56, Mt. Pleasant, and is likew-ise a zealous worker in all the interests 
represented by the organization. She served three years as senior vice-presi- 
dent and at the present time is junior vice-president, also assistant to the 
secretary of the encampment. 

The family of Mr. and Mrs. Weller consists of the following children: 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 649 

Xellic. Ixirn Octoliei", 1866. is tlie wife of George Gilpin anil li\es in Mt. 
Pleasant : William E.. was born in January, 1868. married Mollie Wallace, 
and lives in Isabella township; Maude, born September. 1870, is the wife of 
Thomas Lawrence and lives in Mt. Pleasant: Xora and Dora, twins, were 
born August. 1878; the former is unmarried and at home, the latter being the 
wife of George Wallace, of Owosso, this state: Blanche, who also resides on 
the home farm, is the wife of A. Meyer, and (ieorge, who is still with his 
parents, was I)orn in Xoveniber, 1885. 



EL'lOX J. \AX LEL'VEX. 

Prominent among the energetic, far-sighted and successful business men 
of Isabella county is Elton J. Van Leuven. of Mt. Pleasant, whose life history 
most liappily illustrates what may be attained by faithful and continued efYort 
in carrying out an honest purpose. Integrity, activity and energy have been 
the crowning point in his career and have led to desirable and creditable suc- 
cess. His connection with banking institutions and various lines of business 
have been of decided advantage to the community, promoting its welfare 
along \'arious lines in no urcertain manner, while at the same time he has 
made an untarnished record and imspotted reputation as a business man. 
His methods are progressive and he is quick to adopt new ideas which he be- 
lieves will prove of practical \alue in his work. Indolence and idleness are 
entirelv foreign to his nature, and owing to his close application to liusiness 
and his honorable methods he has won prosperity that is richly merited, while 
he enjoys the friendship and esteem of the people of the entire locality. 

Mr. Van Leuven was bcrn in Seville township, Gratiot county, Michigan, 
Julv 29, 1866. He is the scion of an excellent and influential old family of 
the Empire state, being the son of Lucius and Mary \'an Leuven. l)oth natives 
of the state of New York. 

The subject has reflected all his life the wholesome training he received in 
his home. He received a good education in the high school at Mount Pleas- 
ant and the Detroit Business L'niversity. He had long entertained a laudable 
ambition to enter the banking arena, and consequently bent every effort in 
that direction and became well equipped for this special line of work. He 
entered the employment of the First National Bank of Mt. Pleasant, Michi- 
gan, in 1884 and at once succeeded in making his influence felt in strengthei^ 
ing the prestige of that old financial institution. By nature an organizer and 



650 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

promoter, in 1898 he organized the banking house of Webber & Ruel at ^It. 
Pleasant, and was its cashier and manager for a period of five years, during 
which time he placed it on a very sure and solid basis. He organized the 
Isabella County State Bank of Mt. Pleasant, taking on the business of Webber 
& Ruel, bankers, in 1903, and he has since served as its cashier and director, 
performing his duties in this connection in his usual able and conservative 
manner, which has reflected much credit upon himself and to the entire satis- 
faction of all concerned. The business of this bank has been very prosperous 
and it is regarded as one of the safest and most popular banking institutions 
in this section of Michigan. Its assets are now over a half million dollars. 

Mr. \^an Leuven held the office of treasurer of the Michigan Bankers 
Association one year, winning the hearty approval of the members of the same 
by his judicious management of this office. Politically he is a Republican and 
is a loyal advocate of his party's principles. He has very faithfully dis- 
charged the duties of city treasurer, alderman and a member of the school 
board. Fraternally he belongs to the Free and Accepted Masons and the 
Knights of Pythias. 

On June 2, 1885. Air. A'an Leuven was united in marriage with Elizabeth 
Hitchcock, a lady of culture and refinement whose genial personality has long 
rendered her a favorite with a large circle of friends. She is the daughter 
of John Hitchcock, who formerly lived in this county but more recently a 
citizen of Bismarck, North Dakota. This union has been graced by the birth 
of two children, Buel H. and Ruth E. Mr. and Mrs. \'an Leu\en have a 
modern, commodious and comfortable home and they stand high in the best 
social circles of the county. 



JOHN McNERNEY. 



Prominent among the prosperous farmers and public spirited citizens of 
Isabella township is the subject of this review, a gentleman of intelligence and 
liberal culture, whom to know is to esteem and honor. John Mc- 
Nerney was born January i, 1854, a native of the Emerald isle. The subject 
spent the first eighteen years of his life near the place of his birth, but at 
the age indicated accompanied his parents to the United States and during the 
ensuing three years lived on a farm in Livingston countv, Michigan. At the 
expiration of that period he came to Isabella county, but after a brief sojourn 
m the tdwnsliip of Isabella entered the Detroit Business L'niversitv, from 



ISABKLLA COUNTV, MKHICAN. 651 

wliicli lie was graduated in due time, at'icr wliicli lie returned tn this county 
and enj^ased in educational work. Mr. McXerney taught school for the first 
term in Isaliella township in the winter of 1877 and during the ensuing fifteen 
years had charge of schools in various parts of the county, achieving the niean- 
whilc an honorable record as an efficient and popular instructor. Xot caring 
to devote his life to school work, he tliscontinued the profession at the expira- 
tion of the time indicated arid bought the farm of forty acres in section 17. 
Isabella township, which he still owns and cnltixates and which he subsecpiently 
enlarged by the addition of a like area adjoining, besides purchasing another 
forty-acre tract in section 19. He now owns one hundred and twenty acres 
of excellent land in one of the finest agricultural districts of Isabella county, 
has made a number of substantial improvements on the same and by his well 
directed labors and judicious management, the farm at this time ranks among 
the most productive and valuable of the township in which it is situated. Mr. 
McXerney believes in using his means to proper ends, accordingly he has been 
unsparing of both money and time in beautifying his home and ackling to its 
attractiveness and \alue. His fine brick residence erected in 1901 is a model 
of architecture as well as convenience, and fully equii)ped with modern im- 
pro\ements. In 1895 he built a comniotlious barn which answers all purposes 
for which intended and his other improvements, including artificial drainage, 
good fencing and a number of substantial outlniildings, are all up to date and 
indicate the interest which he takes in the calling to which his time and 
energies are devoted. 

Mr. McXerne\'. in the vear 1885. was united in the holy bonds of matri- 
monv with Elizabeth Hase. who was born February 17, 1858, the union 
terminating with the untimely death of the wife in September. 1908. after 
bearing her husband the following children: Frank, born June 17. 1886. is 
single and lives at home: Pauline, also a meml^er of the home circle, was born 
.'\ugust 21. 1887; Rose, who was born Septemlwr 17. 1889. is a graduate of 
the Central State Normal School and one of Isabella county's most efficient 
and popular teachers; Mary. lK>rn June 7, 1891, is also an alumna of that 
institution; Theresa, who was born June _'6. 1892. is also a graduate of the 
same school; Anna, the youngest of the family, was born March i. 1894. and. 
like her sisters, is preparing herself for teaching, being at this time a student 
of the Central State Normal and standing high in her classes. 

Mr. McXerney is a Democrat in politics and. being a reader and thinker, 
is well informed on the (|ucstions of the day and is an influential worker for 
the success of his party. He was reared a Catholic and has always remained 
true to the teachings of the mother church. M the present time he belongs 



652 ISABFLLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

to St. Henry's church, \'ernon, with wliich his children are also identified, and 
is a liberal contributor to the support of the parish. He has never been an 
office seeker nor aspirant for public honors, nevertheless the voters of his town- 
ship some years ago elected him township clerk, which position he filled with 
credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the citizens of his jurisdiction for 
a period of eight years, besides serving four years as superintendent of the 
township schools. 



KENNETH E. STRUBLE. 

This prominent and public spirited citizen has richly earned the esteem 
and confidence which he now commands and it is by no means presumptuous 
to claim for him a larger place in the public view than any other of his con- 
temporaries in the community where he resides. For a number of years he 
has been more or less actively identified with the varied interests of the thriv- 
ing town of Shepherd, and has contributed to its advancement, not only in a 
material way, but along social, educational and moral lines as well. Ken- 
neth E. Struble is a native of Williams county, Ohio, where his birth occurred 
on November 17, 1867. He was brought to Isabella county, Michigan, when 
but six months old, spent his childhood and youth at Salt River, Coe township, 
and in the public schools which he attended during his minority he received 
an intellectual training which served as a foundation for his subsequent career 
in the \arious lines of business to which he has devoted his talents. 

Mr. Struble's first practical experience was as a salesman for his broth- 
ers, N. \Y. and J. H. Struble, in their mercantile establishment at Shepherd, 
in which capacity he continued until the dissolution of the partnership, when 
he accepted a position with J. H. and remained in his store for a period of 
fifteen years, during which time he dexeloped business ability of a high order 
and gained the confidence of all with whom he came into contact. On 
November 30, 1901, he was appointed by President Roosevelt postmaster of 
Shepherd and, entering at once upon the duties of the office, has continued 
them to the present time, earning the meanwhile an honorable reputation as a 
capable and popular official — indeed, the most efficient of the many who have 
held the position. 

W'hen Mr. Struble received his first commission Shepherd was a fourth 
class office, but in July. 1902, it was advanced to the third class, since which 
time it has more than doubled its capacity, being now the center of a large 
rural delivery, which includes fi\e routes and takes in as many townships, 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 653 

besides touching parts of three others. He has received three commissions 
from President Roosevelt and on March 17. 1910. was reappointed by Presi- 
dent Taft, his long retention in the office speaking well for his efficiency, also 
for the confidence reposed in him by the department, as well as by the general 
public which he serves. Mr. Struble represents a class of citizens distin- 
guished for tiiose measures of public policy which bear directly upon material 
interests, and he enjoys a iiigh rejiutatiou for business sagacity and integrity, 
his opinions and views being worthy of the highest consideration and regard. 
He is identified with a number of enterprises and utilities whicli make for the 
material prosperity of the town in which he lives and in all that concerns the 
social and moral welfare of his fellow townsmen his influence and co-operation 
have been unsparing and constant. He is a stockholder and director of the 
Central State Savings Bank of Shepherd, and is likewise identified witli the 
banking company at the town of Winn, to the success of both of which insti- 
tutions he has contributed in no small degree, being recognized as a discreet 
business man whose judgment and opinions have weight with his associates 
and command the respect of the public. Since old enough to read intelligent- 
ly, he lias kept in touch with the leading questions and issues of the people and 
a careful investigation of the principles of the opposing political parties led 
him into the Republican ranks, since which time he has been unremitting in 
his advocacy of its policies and an untiring worker for the success of its 
candidates. 

.Active and influential os Mr. Struble has been in political work, he has 
never sought office for himself, his first thought being for his friends whom 
he has assisted from time to time by e\ery legitimate means within his 
power. To his efforts the success of not a few candidates has been due and 
his judicious advice in party councils and activity during the progress of 
campaigns have helped to win victory for the entire ticket in a number of 
hotly waged contests. He was a member of the county committee one term 
and rendered efifective service in that capacity and also served for some time 
on the Republican congressional committee, where his judicious counsel was 
likewise appreciated. Before President McKinley's first nomination, he as- 
sisted in organizing a McKinley Club and served as president of same and 
during the campaign which followed rendered valuable service in winning the 
large majority which that popular candidate carried in Isabella county. 

Mr. Struble has been (|uite successful in his business affairs and in addi- 
tion to his interests in the banks referred to in a preceding paragraph, he 
owns valuable real estate in both town and country, the former including 
a fine modern residence on Wright avenue, the principal street of the city. 



654 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

His home is imposing and attractive and. being situated in the Inisiness dis- 
trict, the property is growing rapidly in value. Mr. Struble is an enthusiastic 
Mason, belonging to Salt River Lodge No. 288, in which he has been hon- 
ored with four terms as worshipful master. In addition, his activity in the 
general work of the order is manifested in that he is now serving as president 
of the Masonic Building Association, which has control of the Masonic temple 
in Shepherd and various other interests connected therewith. He is also a 
member of the Order of the Eastern Star, in which he sen-ed seven years as 
worthy patron, and he likewise belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, 
in which he now holds the title of past consul. In the year 1897 Mr. Struble 
was happily married to Coral C. Hibbard. the accomplished daughter of F. E. 
and Louisa Hibbard, of Isabella county, the union being without issue. At 
the time of her marriage and for some time prior thereto, Mrs. Struble was a 
teacher in the public schools of Shepherd. Later her husband appointed her 
assistant postmaster, a position which she has since tilled with credit and satis- 
faction, being prompt and courteous in attending to the duties of the office 
and popular in her relations with the public. 



CHARLES H. LEIGHTON. 

In nearly every community are individuals who by innate ability and 
sheer force of character rise above their fellows and win for themselves con- 
spicuous places in public esteem. While Charles H. Leighton, a progressive 
farmer of Rolland township. Isabella county, does not court such a distinction, 
yet it is evident that he has won a larger amount of success than the average 
farmer and that this has bten done by his own unaided efforts, since it has 
never been his nature to depend upon anyone. During the long period of his 
residence in this vicinity his life has been closely interwoven with its material 
growth and development, while his career as a man of affairs has been synon- 
ymous with all that is upright and honorable in citizenship. 

Mr. Leighton is the scion of a sterling old New York family, of which 
state he himself is native, his birth having occurred at Sodus, Wayne county, 
on August 30, 1843, on a small farm, on which he worked when he became 
of proper age, attending the district schools during the winter months. In 
March, 1853, when ten years of age, he came to Kalamazoo county, Michigan, 
where the father purchased eighty acres of heavily timbered land in Wakeshma 
township, which he cleared with the help of his sons. Here Charles H. did 



ISABELLA COfNTY, MUIIU;.\X. 655 

his first re:il Iianl work, and liere he received some additional scliooiing. lie 
remained in that county twenty years and jjurchased a small farm of twentv- 
inn acres, which he later sold and came to Isabella count v in the sprint,' of 
1872. believing that here were the better prospects. He settled on his present 
excellent farm of sixty acres in .section 8. Rolland township. In tvpical 
pioneer fashion he made a little clearing; in the dense woods and started the 
nucleus ot a home an<l fai'ni, and. being a har<l worker and good manager, he 
has succeeded in establishing a very comfortable home and developing one 
of the best farms in the township. nt)w having but five acres of timber land, 
having cleared and improved his place himself. He first lived in a small log 
house and nbiained his |)rovisions at Millljrook. two nn'les awav. lie did 
considerable work in the woods for lumber companies in order to get a start 
and make a living. He had a team when he reached here, but he sold it and 
put the money in bis place He later built a very substantial dwelling and 
a good barn and added such outl)uildings and other improvements as his 
needs seem to recpiire. 

Mr. Leighton was married in 1868. at W'akeshma. to Margaret Martin, 
who was born on April 22. 1843, in Canada. She is the daughter of Thomas 
and Margaret Martin, and three children have been born to this union : Her- 
bert, who is living at Bear Lake, Micliigan. is school commissioner of Manistee 
county: Raymond owns a farm adjoining that of his father and he works 
l)oth farms: \\'ilbur W.. who died March 12, 1889. 

Mr. Leighton has a good orchard of two acres, and he has carried on 
general farming. His place is well kept and yields abundant harvests. In 
the early days he had a great many hardships which are always incident to 
pioneer life, having started in with nothing. He is well known in the com- 
munity, and he takes an active interest in the W'esleyan Methodist church at 
Blanchard, in which he has held many offices. He was school inspector and 
township clerk for some time, and he is the oldest justice of the i)eace in 
Isabella county. He assisted in building all the roads in this locality. When 
he came here the town of I'buicbard was a blackberry patch. 

The parents of Mrs. Leighton came to Michigan when she was six years 
of age. locating in Kent county, having made the journey from their old home 
with a fourdiorse team, the tri[) re(|uiring three weeks. After visiting awhile 
thev purchased one hundred and sixty acres, and there Mrs. Leighton grew 
to maturity. While \isiting her uncle in Kalamazoo county, whose farm 
joined the Leighton place, she met the subject for the first time, and a year 
later they were married. She taught school in that neighborhood, also taught 
in district Xo. 2. R(jlland township. Isabella county, for two years after her 



656 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

marriage. Mr. Leighton also taught singing school here, and he sang at 
funerals and various gatherings, and in so doing made many friends, in fact, 
he and his wife have never lacked for plenty of friends since coming here, 
and they are popular and influential in the communit\-. 



WILLIAM O. HULLINGER. 

Examples that impress force of character on all who study them are 
worthy of record. By a few general observations may be conveyed some idea 
of the high standing of William O. Hullinger, publisher of the Central Michi- 
gan Times at Mt. Pleasant, as a business man and public benefactor and an 
editor of unusual felicity of expression and whose facile pen has delighted 
thousands of readers, moulding public opinion and doing his full shaie in 
promoting the interests of Isabella county along general lines. 

Mr. Hullinger was born near Bradford, Ohio, August 18. 1875, ^"'^ ^^ 
came to Barry county, Michigan, with his parents when young. He lived 
with his parents on a farm during the early years of his life, but when he was 
ten years old the family moved to Nashville, Michigan, because of the ad- 
vantage of schools that the town would afford the children. William O. left 
school when fourteen years of age and began his apprenticeship in the iWash- 
znlle Nezi's printing office. After two years of "deviling" and almost a }ear 
at setting type by the thousand ems, he returned to the high school at Nashville 
with sufficient money to complete the twelve grades, and he was graduated in 
1895 The following year he spent in the University of Michigan, taking a 
literary course. 

In October, 1897, Mr. Hullinger established the Press, a weekly news- 
paper, at Potterville, ^Michigan, which he successfully conducted for its owner 
for two years. In 1899 he bought the Perry (Michigan) Journal, and three 
years later merged it with the Morrice Clipper and continued there until he 
came to Mt. Pleasant, enjoying a very satisfactory business. In April, 1904, 
he came into possession of the Central Michigan Times of Mt. Pleasant. 
Three years later, in July, the business was organized into a corporation 
known as the Isabella Printing Company, and B. M. Gould became his busi- 
ness associate. A little over two years later Mr. Gould disposed of his inter- 
ests, and now Mr. Hullinger again has full management and control. When 
he took possession of this paper it was not regarded as a very important factor 
in the community, but by his judicious management and enterprise he has 




WILLIAM O. HULLINCJER 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 657 

increased its prestige until it is well known and is influential in this section of 
the state, and now has a circulation of nearly two thousand. Its mechanical 
appearance has been greatly improved, its editorials are strong and convincing. 
its columns teem with the l>est and brightest news of the day and its value as 
an advertising medium has been greatly augmented and is now widely recog- 
nized. The plant is well etpiipped with the latest mechanical devices known 
in the "art preservative." The value of the equipment has, in fact, more than 
doubled under the control of Mr. Hullinger, until now, with the building which 
he owns, it is a valuable piece of property. The circulation is rapidlv increas- 
ing. Here is to be found the only linotype machine in the countv. and his 
paper is the largest in the county in size. The Times plant is seventy-two by 
thirty-three feet and extends on two lots. The Times is a strong defender of 
Republican principles. Mr. Hullinger owns a very pleasant home in Mt. 
Pleasant. Although a loyal Republican, he has not taken an aggressi\e part 
in political matters since coming here. Fraternally he belongs to the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows at Mt. Pleasant and was noble grand of this 
order while living at Perry. He also belongs to the Knights of Pvthias. 



JOHN Y. JOHXSTOX. 

The subject of this sketch, a leading farmer and representative citizen of 
Isabella county, is a Canadian by birth and a son of Francis and Elizabeth 
Johnston, both natives of the province of Ontario, the former born on May 
I, 181 7, the latter on the 2i.st of September, 1830. Francis Johnston came 
to Isabella county, Michigan, in 1873 and purchased the farm in Isabella town- 
ship which the subject now owns, the latter succeeding to the place on the 
death of his father in 1874. Mrs. Johnston, who is still li\ing. resides at 
Rosebush, this county, where she is spending her declining years in the en- 
joyment of the quiet and comfort to which her long and active life entitles her. 

John Y. Johnston was born in Peel county, Ontario, where he also spent 
his bo)hood and obtained his education. He was reared as a farmer and fol- 
lowed agricultural pursuits in his native country until 1875 when he came to 
Michigan and spent the summer of that year in Isabella county. Three years 
later he went to California where he remained three and a half years variously 
employed, working a part of the time on a farm and during certain seasons 
operating a header in the wheat fields of that state. Returning to Michigan 
at the expiration of the period indicated, he took possession of the place in 
(42) 



658 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

Isabella township referred to above, and since then has added to his real estate 
until he now owns a fine farm of one hundred twenty acres which he has 
brought to a high state of cultivation and on which are some of the most 
valuable improvements in the county. 

On January 29, 1883, Mr. Johnston was married in Ontario to Alary J. 
Steele and immediately thereafter brought his bride to the new home in 
Isabella county, which at that time consisted of a small log house and about 
five acres in wheat and thirty acres of starting. Animated by a laudable am- 
bition to succeed, he addressed himself resolutely to the work of clearing his 
land and fitting it for tillage, his good wife the meanwhile assisting him with 
words of encouragement and cheer and presiding with true grace and dignity 
over the humble home in which they spent some of the happiest times of their 
lives. Without narrating in detail his labor and progress, suffice it to state 
that since the time indicated, Mr. Johnston has converted his land into a 
splendid farm, which in point of cultivation and improvements ranks among 
the most desirable homesteads in the central part of the state. He has been 
unsparing of his means in adding to its beauty and value, erecting substantial 
buildings, including a commodious barn forty-four by sixty- four feet, and an. 
imposing brick dwelling, containing ten rooms and supplied with every con- 
venience calculated to augment the comfort of the occupants and render 
rural life desirable. The former building was erected in 1892, the latter in 
1905, and recently the barn has been remodeled and greatly improved, water 
being supplied by wind power and various modern methods adopted to facili- 
tate and lighten labor. 

j\Ir. Johnston displays commendable public spirit in matters pertaining to 
the material progress of the community and the social and moral advancement 
of the populace, being at the present time chairman of the Law Enforcement 
League of his township and a leading worker in the cause of temperance. In 
the recent campaign to decide the question of local option, he was largely in- 
fluential in carrying the county for that measure and since the election he has 
been untiring in his efforts to enforce the law and drive the drink evil from 
the land. For a period of twenty-five years he was an active and consistent 
member of the ^Methodist church, but i's now identified with what is popularly 
called the Holiness movement, a religious society which insists upon a higher 
standard of religion than obtains in the older and more numerous bodies and 
greater consecration to the cause of the Master in daily life and conversation. 

In his former church connection he was a local preacher, besides holding 
various other offices, including those of steward, Sunday school superintendent 
and trustee, he being a leader of the congregation with which identified and a 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICIIIGAX. 659 

zealous advocate of all reformatory and humanitarian projects, indeed any 
movement calculated to benefit his fellow men and lead them to a higher life 
is sure to enlist his hearty sympathy and support. 

Mrs, Johnston, whose birth occurred in Peel county, Ontario. October 
24, 1859, is a lady of high character and sterling worth and a zealous and 
faithful Christian and her hr.sband's able helper in all of his efforts to advance 
his own interests and those of his neighbors and fellow citizens. Iler father, 
George Steele, was born April 7, 1827, in England and is now living in I'eel 
county, where he has made his home for a number of years. The mother, 
whose maiden name was Mary Ann Armstrong, was born in Canada, her 
birth occurring on September 5, 1832. She married Mr. Steele in Ontario 
and departed this life at her home in Peel county on the 12th day of Septem- 
ber, i()oo. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston are the parents of five children, whose 
names are as follows: George F., born October 9, 1883. is unmarried and lives 
at home: Elizabeth, born August 18, 1885, is the wife of Clyde Craig and 
lives in Montreal, Canada; Mary J., whose birth occurred on April 24, 1889, 
is single and a member of the home circle: Ruth, who is also with her parents, 
was born August 10, 1894, and I-'aitli M., the youngest of the number, first 
saw light of day on July 3, 1902. 



HARRY E. WAETOX. 

This enterprising farmer belongs to the younger generation of Isabella 
county's substantial citizens and is eminently worthy of notice among the 
representative men of the townshi]) honored by iiis residence. He belongs to 
an old anil highly esteemed Michigan family, the record of which in this 
state dates from the birth of the grandfather, John B. \\'alton. which occurred 
in the town of Sterling. McComb county, November 30, 1833. This ancestor 
grew to manhood near his native place and later, in the fall of 1835, came to 
Isabella county and took uj) land under the graduation act, selecting the south- 
east (|uarter of section 4. Coe townshi]). which he at once proceeded to im- 
prove and on which he lived until his death, in 1879. Sul)se(|uently he mar- 
ried Artemissia Blount, who was born in Oakland county. Michigan, Decem- 
ber 31. 1834, and by her he had children as follows: Mina. wife of Myles 
Abbott, lives in Coe township; Fred married Lily \'ining, and is also a resident 
of Coe township: Perrv married Martha L. Harry and is the father of the 
subject of this sketch; Charles married Teressa McGrath and lives on the 



660 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

family homestead, which he now owns ; Frank is not married and makes his 
home with his brother Charles; Willard. whose wife was formerly ]\Iabel 
Hamilton, is proprietor of a bakery in Gladwin, this state, he being the young- 
est of the family. 

John B. Walton enlisted February 17, 1864, in Company E, Eighth 
Michigan Infantry, and ser\ed until the close of the Civil war, taking part in 
the \^irginia campaigns and participating in a number of noted battles, in one 
of which, the bloody struggle in the Wilderness, he received, on June i8th 
of the above year, a severe wound in the hand. After the surrender of the 
Confederate forces under General Lee he was honorably discharged and. re- 
turning home immediately thereafter, resumed agricultural pursuits, which he 
continued with encouraging results until his death, on June 15, 1879. Mrs. 
W^alton, who survived her husband, is still living on the home place in Coe 
township, having reached the age of seventy-six years, and still retaining 
possession of her mental and physical powers. 

Perry Walton, the third in order of birth of the above children, was born 
July 26, 1866, and spent his life as a tiller of the soil. After living in Coe 
township until 1890, he mo\ed to Clare county, this state, where he remained 
two years, anrl then changed his residence to the county of Missaukee, where 
he purchased a farm of forty acres on which he spent the remainder of his 
days, departing this life on October i, 1892. 

Martha L. Harry, who became the wife of Perry Walton, was born June 
29, 1868, and for the past eight years has made her home in Alberta, Canada. 
The children of this estimable couple, two in number, are Harry E., whose 
name introduces this sketch, and Alta, whose birth occurred August 24. 1886, 
and who now lives with her mother in Canada, having in the meantime become 
the wife of Joseph Poniter. 

Harry E. Walton was born June 12, 1885, in Coe township, Isabella 
countv, and grew up amid the bracing airs and under the wholesome influence 
of rural life, becoming inured to farm labor at an early age and obtaining a 
practical education in the public schools. At the age of sixteen he discon- 
tinued farm labor to accept a clerkship in a hardware store, and after filling 
t-he position seven years and demonstrating commendable business capacity, 
became a partner of H. M. Wetzel in the hardware trade, the firm thus con- 
stituted purchasing the stock of the Shepherd Hardware Company, which 
establishment is now under the management of the firm of Wetzel & Walton. 
The above firm carries a large and well selected stock of general hardware and 
by close attention to the demands of the trade and judicious management has 
built up quite an extensive patronage, which from the beginning has grown 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 66l 

steadily in inagniliulc and iiiiportance, their store at tliis time being among 
the most successful business houses of the kind in the county. As indicated 
in a preceding jjaragrapli, Mr. Walton has made commendable progress as a 
business man, his career presenting a series of advancements such as few 
achieve, and he now occu])ies a conspicuous place among the rej^reseiitative 
merchants of this part of tlie state, liis past success bespeaking a l)riglit and 
promising future. In his relations with his fellow men, business or otherwise, 
he has been actuated by motives of honor and integrity, and in the communitv 
which has been his lifelong home his name represents the highest standard of 
manhood and citizenship. Fraternally he belongs to Salt River Lodge No. 
288, Free and .\ccepted Masons, and he also holds membership with Camp 
No. 8178, Modern Woodmen of America, in both of which societies he has 
held positions of honor and trust and been an active and influential worker. 

Mr. Walton is a married man. but has no children, his wife having for- 
merly been Florabell Shepherd, daughter of H. D. and Mary She])herd, the 
father living, the mother dying December 12, 1905. Mrs. Walton, whose 
birth occurred at Ashley, Michigan, December 25, 1887, is a lady of intelli- 
gence and beautiful character, a tit companion for the enterprising man whose 
name she bears and over whose home she presides with grace and dignity be- 
coming one who makes her hu.sband's interests her own, and spares no reason- 
able effort to make their married life mutually agreeable and happy and to 
the largest degree useful. They move in the best social circles of the com- 
munity and their popularity is only bounded by the limits of their acquaint- 
ance. 



HENRY WILD. 



The gentleman whose career is here made public is an .\mcrican bv 
naturalization, being a native of Switzerland, where his birth occurred in 
the month of April, 1859, and where he spent the first twenty-one years of 
his life. In his youth he learned the trade of dyeing and coloring clothing, 
which he fnlbiwed in his native land until attaining his majority when he de- 
cided to seek his fortime in the great repulilic across the sea of which he had 
read so much and heard so many favorable reports. .Accordingly, in 1880 
be bade farewell to the romantic scenes of his childhood and youth and in due 
time landed in .\iTierica and made his way direct to Saginaw. Michigan, where 
he spent the ensuing eight years variously employed. In the spring of 1888 
he left that part of the state and settled on a tract of land in X'enion town- 



662 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

ship, Isabella county, which he obtained by trade and which at the time re- 
ferred to was as nature had made it. With his characteristic industry and 
energy Mr. Wild at once proceeded with the work of clearing his land and 
getting it in condition for cultivation, a task of no small magnitude, consider- 
ing the dense woods with which it was covered, and the difficulty of remov- 
ing the roots and stumps after the timber had been cut. By continuous and 
well directed toil, however, he finally succeeded in reducing the greater part 
to tillage, besides making a number of substantial improvements in the way 
of buildings, fences, etc., and planting certain pastures with fruit trees. 

In 1897 Mr. Wild suffered quite a heavy loss in the destruction of his 
dwelling house by fire, but he at once rebuilt upon a more extensive scale, 
the residence which the family now occupy being decidedly superior to its pred- 
ecessor. His barn and outbuildings are substantial and in excellent repair and 
in his farm work he has aimed to keep pace with the times, using improved 
machinery and implements and cultivating the soil according to the latest 
modern methods. He has been very successful in all of his undertakings and 
is now in independent circumstances, his fine farm of one hundred and sixty 
acres yielding him not only a liberal livelihood, but an ample surplus each year 
to lay up against any emergency that may arise, also to insure an easy and 
comfortable old age. Mr. Wild is a public spirited man and since becoming a 
citizen of Isabella county has been quite active in public and political affairs, 
having served three successive years as supervisor of Vernon township and 
two years as treasurer of the same. In both offices he demonstrated business 
ability of a high order and a faithful regard for the interests of the public. 
He is a stanch Republican in politics and an influential worker for the success 
of his party, being one of its leaders in Vernon township, where his opinions 
and counsel always command respect. Fraternally, he belongs to the Grange, 
in the deliberations of which he has ever taken an acti\e part, and he also holds 
membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of 
the Maccabees, having from time to time been honored with important official 
positions. 

Mr. Wild married in his native country Emma Kundig, whose early life 
was spent near his own birthplace, and who has proven a faithful companion 
and helpmeet in his labors and struggles and is now able to rejoice with him 
in the fortune that has crowned their mutual efforts. They have four living 
children, one dying in infancy, the names of the survivors being Herman, 
Frank. William and Harry. Although of foreign birth. Mr. \Mld is as truly 
American as if born on American soil, and as a citizen he is highminded, in- 
telligent, a great admirer of the institutions of his adopted country and ready 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 663 

to (lefeml tliem witli his life's blood shoulil the necessity arise. He is his^iiiy 
esteemed l)y a large circle of friends and the confidence reposed in him by 
his neighbors has never been misplaced. 



EUGENE H. ALLYN. 

The subject of this re\ie\v is widely and fa\orably known and for a num- 
ber of years has been one of the enterprising, public spirited men oi the town- 
ship honored by his citizenship. Eugene H. Allyn, who is a native of Cier- 
many. first saw the light of day in the year 1859 and when six months old was 
brought to America by his mother, his father dying six months previous to his 
birth. Owing to the peculiar circumstances surrounding his mother after 
reaching this country, she found it well nigh impossible to rear her child : 
accordingly, he was adopted by a Mr. .\l!yn, who with his good wife looked 
after the lad's interests as if he were of their own blood and spared no efforts 
to have him grow up an honor to himself and them and a blessing to the world. 
His own mother lived for a number of years after coming to the I'nitetl 
States, dying at Sandusky, Ohio, in 1907. 

In 1867 Mr. Allyn's foster father mo\-ed from Ohio to northern Michi- 
gan, where he lived until 1876. when he transferred his residence to Ohio, since 
w hich time he has made that state his home. Young Allyn attended the public 
schools as opportunities afforded, the meantime devoting the summer months 
to labor on the fann. He grew up a strong, well developed young man. with 
proper conce])tions of the duties and responsibilities of life, and on arriving 
at an age to plan for the future he came to \\'inn, Fremont township, Isabella 
county, and went into the mercantile business, which he followed for ten 
years, but finding the confinement undermining his health he bought a farm 
and sold his store, the outdoor work greatly benefiting him. He owns \alu- 
able real estate in Isabella county and is otherw ise well to do, the farm of one 
hundred acres on which he lives being among the best improved and most 
desirable in Winn township and leaving little to be desired in the wav of 
modern con\eniences and comforts. 

Mr. .\llyn is a gentleman of progressive ideas and fine taste and during 
his active years not only cultixated the soil with success and profit, but was 
uns])aring of his means in improving and l>eautifying his home. The com- 
modious dwelling which his family now occupy is furnished with the various 
conveniences calculated to reniler rural life happy and desirable, being heated 



664 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

by the hot water system and equipped with other modern iinpro\ements. the 
barns, outbuildings, fences, etc.. being first class and in excellent condition, 
the farm and everything pertaining thereto being up to date and bearing evi- 
dence of the intelligence, enterprise and public spirit of the proprietor. As 
a tiller of the soil he stands in the front rank of Isabella county's progressive 
agriculturists and as a citizen is energetic and wide awake, keeping in touch 
with the trend of current events and abreast of the times on all matters of 
public interest. In politics he is a Democrat, but not an office seeker, although 
for twenty consecutive terms he served as clerk of his township and discharged 
the duties of the position in an able and eminently praiseworthy manner. He 
is an enthusiastic member of the Masonic brotherhood, belonging to Cedar 
Valley Lodge No. 383, in addition to which he encourages all benevolent and 
humanitarian projects, being always ready to assist worthy enterprises and 
never turning a deaf ear to the cry of suffering or distress. 

Mr. Allyn, in 1881, entered the marriage relation with Julia Allyn, who 
was born in the year i860, being a daughter of Phineas and Celia (Butler) 
Allyn, natives of Connecticut, where their births occurred in 1829 and 1831, 
respectively. Phineas Allyn came to Michigan about the year 1879 and is 
now living in the city of Mt. Pleasant, his wife having died in 1870. One 
child has blessed the marriage of Eugene H. and Julia Allyn, a daughter, 
Nellie, who was born February 25, 1896, and who is now pursuing her studies 
in the public schools. 



WILLIAM BADGLEY. 

j\.mong the men of influence in Isabella county, who have the interest of 
their locality at heart and who have led consistent lives, thereby gaining definite 
success along their chosen lines, is William Badgley, a successful farmer of 
Wise township, having there a valuable and highly productive landed estate, 
which he manages with the care and discretion that stamps him as a twentieth- 
century agriculturist of the highest order. 

Mr. Badgley was born October 29, 1845, '" Hastings county, Ontario, 
Canada, the son of William and Abigail (Garrison) Badgley, both natives of 
that place, and there he passed his boyhood and attended school a short time. 
He remained on the farm, which he worked until he was thirty-two years of 
affe. He was married to Elizabeth Presley of his own community in Ontario, 
tjorn in 1847. At the age mentioned above Mr. Badgley came to Saginaw, 
IMichigan, where he remained three months, then came to Clare Citv, Clare 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 665 

county, aiKl lised two years, working on the section of a railroad, also in the 
woods. He then moved to section 8, Wise township, and bought sixty acres 
of timbered land, through which and around which there were no roads. — in 
fact. Mr. Badgley was one of the first settlers in that township, coming here 
when the great forests were inhabited b\' Indians and wild beasts, but he set 
to work with a will and in due course of time had a comfortal)lc home and well 
cultivated farm. In 19 lo he purchased an additional forty acres, making his 
farm now one hundred acres, which ranks with the best and most attractive 
in the township. He has. as intimated, a neat and well arranged dwelling 
which he remodeled in 18S8 and in 1910 he erected a good barn, thirty-si.x 
by eighty-two feet. His place is well fenced with wire and is well drained. 
He has eighty-five acres under a high state of cultivation and is carrying on 
general farming in a manner that brings abundant success. He is also very 
successful as a stock raiser, paying special attention to full blood shorthorn 
cattle and he has other good stock. This year he has ten acres in beets, seven 
acres in beans, besides wheat, oats and barley, and has one acre of fine fruit. 
He uses the latest models in farming machinery. He is a stockholder and a 
member of the Farmers Mutual Insurance Society of Mt. Pleasant. 

Mr. Badgley is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and he 
is a trustee of the same, having held this office for the past two years. His 
family also belongs to this church and all are very faithful in their attendance 
on the same. Mr. Badgley has also been a steward of this church for several 
years. Politically, he is a Rc])ublican, but has never sought public office. 

The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Badgley : I'rank. 
who married a Miss Goodnough, lives in Flint, Michigan, where he is em- 
ployed as bookkeeper; Anna, who married a Mr. Vandelindy, lives in Pembine, 
Wisconsin; Thomas A., who married a Miss Smith, lives with his father on 
the home farm; John Leroy is married and is engaged in railroad work in 
North Dakota. 

Xo family in Isabella county is respected more highly than the Badgleys 
and thev are influential in their communitv. 



DAXIEL BUCKLEY. 



The interesting career of the subject of this sketch entitles him to worthv 
notice among the representative men of his township and county and it is with 
no little satisfaction that the following review of the leading facts of his life 



666 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

is herewith presented. Daniel Buckley was born r^Iarch 21, 1845. in X'orfolk 
county, Ontario, and at the early age of eight years death deprived him of a 
mother's loving care and guidance. Shortly after this sad event he was 
bound out to learn the tailor's trade, but not being pleased with the prospect of 
so long a period of ser\'ice, and with little or no love for his master, he soon 
decided to cut loose from his environment and make his own wav in the 
world; accordingly, when a favorable opportunity presented itself he stole 
away and in due time arrived in Detroit, where he hired to a pai'ty of men to 
help take a drove of horses to St. Louis, Missouri. On recei\ing his pay the 
lad went from the latter city to Nashville, Tennessee, where he entered the 
employ of the government as teamster, but at the expiration of three months 
resigned the position, and returning to his native province, spent the follow- 
ing year at home. Becoming weary of inacti\ity and longing for the wild 
free life of which he obtained but a slight experience, young Buckley, in 
1865, again se\ered home ties and going to Detroit, enlisted in Company .\, 
Nineteenth United States Infantry of the regular army, subsequeiUly being 
transferred to Company A, Thirty-seventh Regiment, and still later to Com- 
pany K, Third Infantry, as corporal. 

Mr. Buckley served six years in the regular army, during which he footed 
it across the plains, took part in a numjjer of raids against the hostile redskins, 
did garrison duty at not a few frontier outposts and passed through many 
other experiences in the West and other parts of the countiy ere the ter- 
mination of his period of enlistment. While in the West he was detailed for 
duty, carrying United States mail dispatches, driving stage coach, etc., be- 
tween Fort Wingate, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Trinidad and other forts. On 
the trip across the plains '"Wild Bill" was scout and a part of the command 
was the famous Seventh Cavalry commanded by General Custer, this being 
the latter's first trip across the plains. His time having expired, he returned 
to Ontario, but after spending about a year there, decided to seek his fortune 
in Michigan, accordingly, in 1872, he came to Isabella county and for some 
time thereafter assisted his brother, who was conducting a store at Isabella 
cit\'. He also worked for some months in \-arious lumber camps and later 
purchased the forty acres of land in section 36, Isabella township, on which 
he has since lived and prospered. Mr. Buckley has not only cleared and re- 
duced to cultivation the farm on which he now resides, but has carried to com- 
pletion several improvements, erecting a fine barn, thirty-six by se\ent\- feet 
in dimensions, in 1899, a commodious modern dwelling" in 1901, besides lay- 
ing a great deal of drain tile, enclosing the greater part of the place with im- 
proved wire fence and purchasing an atklitional fort\' acres near bv. He has 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 667 

tiiet willi gralitviiig success as a tiller of the soil, and is now in comfortable 
circumstances with a sufficiency of this world's goods in his possessicjn to as- 
sure a future free from care. ^ 

Mr. Buckley has been twice married, the first time to Maria Annis. who 
bore him four children, and departed this life in the year 1905, the names of 
the children being as follows: Ilarrv, a railway engineer with hcad(|uartcrs 
at Proctor, Minnesota; Ra}-, who is also engaged in the railway service at 
that place; Thomas, who lives at Indiana Harbor, Indiana, and Kate, who 
makes her home in the state of Miiuiesota. By his second wife, who previous 
to her marriage was Ann McClaine, Mr. Buckle\- has one child. Herman R. 



AARON S. BEACH. 



Though uneventful, the life of the subject of this review has been 
eminently honorable and to him and such as he tlie body politic is indebted 
for much of its moral bone and sinew and the community for the respect for 
law and order which insure happy homes and a contented people. Aaron 
S. Beach, a native of Oneida coimty, New York, was born in the year 1847 
and spent his early life near the i)lace where he first saw the light of day. 
He was reared amid rural scenes, early became familiar with the duties of 
the farm and in the public schools of his neighborhood received a fair educa- 
tion. He remained on the home place in his native county until his father's 
death, which occurred in 1862, and later, when nineteen years old, accompanied 
his widowed mother to Connecticut, where he remained one summer. 

Going to Ulster county, New York, at the expiration of the time indi- 
cated. Mr. Beach devoted the ensuing two years to farm labor, and then came 
to Clinton county, Michigan, where he spent the following sixteen years, work- 
ing by the month for dififercnt parties, although owning a farm of his own 
from which he received a fair rental. Disposing of his farm in the above 
count\- in 1885, he came to Isabella county and for two year.s thereafter worked 
principally by the day, his main object in coming to this part of the state, 
howexer, being the desire to benefit his health, which at the time referred to 
was in a ])recarious condition. In 1887 he purchased eighty acres of land in 
section 3, Nottawa townshij). all in the woods and presenting any Ijut an allur- 
ing ])rospect for a home, but under his effective labors, the forest growth grad- 
ually disappeared and in due time he had a goodly part of his farm cleared 
and in cultivation. 



668 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

During the past twenty-three years ]\Ir. Beach has succeeded well as a 
farmer, the greater part of his land being in an excellent state of tillage, with 
good improvement^including a commodious barn erected a number of years 
ago, but remodeled in 1908, a comfortaljle and substantial residence equipped 
with the usual conveniences, up-to-date outbuildings, the place being enclosed 
and subdivided with first-class wire fencing, and the productiveness of the soil 
enhanced by a judicious system of drainage, four hundred rods of which is 
by means of tiling. 

All in all, liis success has been \-ery gratifying and he is today in com- 
fortable circumstances with a sufficient competency in his possession to render 
his future free from care. He has always been a hard worker and having no 
one but himself to provide for, being free from the duties and responsibilities 
of matrimony, he gets all the enjoyment out of life there is in it. assists his 
neighbors and friends in their efforts to promote the general welfare and uses 
his influence for the right as he sees it and understands it. He is a gentleman 
of pleasing address, and those who know him best speak in high terms of his 
many estimable qualities of mind and heart and of his sterling worth as a 
neighbor and citizen. 



NATHANIEL WHITNEY. 

Conspicuous among the leading farmers and representative citizens of 
Isabella township is Nathaniel Whitney, who was born in Northumberland 
county, Ontario, on November 22, 1859. He was reared to farm labor in his 
native province, received a good common school education and at the age of 
twenty left home and came to Evart, Osceola county, ]\Iichigan, where he 
spent one year, devoting the spring and summer months to farm work and 
the winter season to labor in the woods. At the expiration of the period indi- 
cated he came to Isabella county and, being pleased with the appearance of 
the country, purchased forty acres of land in section 21, Isabella township, 
after which for several winters he worked in various lumber camps, while 
devoting the other months to clearing his land, fitting it for cultivation. 

Without narrating in detail Mr. Whitney's efforts in making a farm and 
establishing a home in the forest of Isabella township, suffice it to state that, 
by well directed industry and good judgment, he finally succeeded in clearing 
the greater part of his original purchase and erecting substantial improve- 
ments thereon, besides adding to his realty at intervals until he now owns two 
hundred and fortv acres of as fine land as the county can boast, one iiundred 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 669 

and fifty acres Ijeinji in culli'.aiiiju. all but fifty acres of the latter representing 
the labor of his own hands. In 1908 he built an imposing modern dwelling, 
the upright thirty by sixteen feet, the wing twenty-two Iiy sixteen feet, the 
edifice being com[)lete in all cf its parts, fully e(iuipped with conveniences and 
well calculated to make life within its walls comfortable and desirable. After 
remodeling the barn and converting it into a first-class structure, he erected 
two other similar buildings, seventy by thirty-six feet and thirty by forty 
feet, respectively, besides enclosing his place with fine wire fences, and greatly 
enhancing the productiveness of the soil by a successful system of drainage. 

As a farmer Mr. Whitney ranks among the most enterprising of his 
neighbors similarly engaged and since becoming a resident of Isabella county 
his success has been continuous, being at this time the possessor of sufficient 
means to make him independent and to pro\ide amply for his children when 
they see fit to sever home ties and begin life for themselves. A Democrat in 
politics and having implicit faith in the principles of his party, he is not a 
partisan, and has never sought nor desired office, being content with the quiet 
and successful life of a tiller of the soil and satisfied with the simple title of 
citizen. In religion he is a Roman Catholic, holding membership with the 
church in ^It. Pleasant and contributing liljerally to its material support, also 
to the \arious benevolences and other lines of good work under the auspices 
of the parish. 

The domestic life of Mr. Whitney dates from May. 1889. ^^ which time 
was solemnized his marriage with Laura Fortin. who was born in Northum- 
berland, Ontario. November 19. 1872, being a daughter of Joseph and 
Bridget (O'Donnell) Fortin, both living in Isabella township at the present 
time. Mr. and Mrs. Whitney are the parents of the following children. Josejjh. 
William, Helena. Fugene. Loretta. Edwin. Marie and Beatrice, all living and 
commanding the esteem and confidence of their friends and associates. 



WILLIAM J. (;RAHAM. 

The gentleman whose career is briefly sketched in the following lines 
has achieved success such as falls to the lot of few. and as a farmer, stock 
raiser and citizen he occupies a prominent place in the community and com- 
mands in a marked degree the esteem and confidence of his fellow men. Wil- 
liam J. Graham is a native of Canada, born in Peel county, Ontario, in fnly. 
1853. At the tender age of one and a half years death deprived him of a 



670 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

father's care and guidance and from that time until reaching the years of 
maturity lie spent the greater part of the time with his brothers and mother 
on the Canadian homestead, the meanwhile obtaining a practical education in 
the public schools and becoming familiar with the rugged duties of rural life. 
In the winter of 1874-5. when twenty years of age. he came to Isabella countv. 
Michigan, and purchased one hundred and twenty acres of wild land in sec- 
tion 10, Isabella township, and during the next few years applied himself to 
the clearing and developing of the same, making a number of substantial im- 
provements in the meantime and meeting with gratifying success as a tiller of 
the soil. Since taking possession of his land he has reduced one hundred and 
eight acres to cultivation and added good buildings, including a commodious 
and comfortable modern dwelling erected in 1884, a large barn, forty-four by 
sixty feet, with basement, the following year, besides five hundred and fifty 
rods of wire fencing, which, with other improvements, have greatly aug- 
mented the value of the farm, which is now conceded to be one of the best in 
the township. 

Mr. Graham is a progressive farmer, being familiar with the nature of 
soils and their adaptability to the different crops grown in this latitude and 
by judicious rotation and careful tillage he ne\er fails to realize ample re- 
turns from his time and labor. In connection with general agriculture he pays 
considerable attention to live stock of the finer breeds, his horses being high 
grade and among the best in his section of the country and his cattle, of 
which he keeps quite a number, including from eight to ten fine milch cows. 
having long been noted for their many points of superiority and excellence. 
By his industry, energy and thrift, backed by sound judgment and rare fore- 
sight, he has so managed his interests as to acquire a handsome competency 
and he is today among the most successful farmers of the county with a 
sufficiency of this world's goods in his possession to make him independent. 

Mr. Graham was marr'ed October 26. 1882. to Minnie McXeill. who 
was born in Middlesex county, Ontario, February 7, 1862. being a daughter 
of John McNeill and Jannet Cameron, both nati\-es of that province. These 
parents were born in the year 1820 and 1825, respectively, married in Ontario 
and spent their lives principally in Middlesex county, where they also 
passed to their final rew'ard. The father died in London in 1892, the mother 
came to this country two \ears before she died, in March, 1910. In her 
youth Mrs. Graham attended the public schools of her native county and later 
pursued her studies in London, Canada, and was afterward graduated from 
the high school of Strathroy, Ontario. In 1880 she taught the school in 
district No. 3, Isabella township, and the following year had sole charge of 



IS.\15i;i,I.A COUNTY, MICHIGAX. 67I 

the Xippesing Indian schools on the reservation in this connty. in which work 
she was associated four years with Mrs. J. R. Robinson and Miss Snyder, 
wlio taught at the other two Indian schools on this reservation. During her five 
years' experience in the schools of Isabella county, before and after lier 
marriage. Mrs. Graham acliicxcd market! distinction for tlie tliDroughnesss 
of her work and the reputation she enjoyed as one of the most successful 
teachers the county has ever known was fairly and honoralily won. She is a 
lady of fine mind and varied culture and her beautiful life and character have 
made her popular among her many friends and associates. She belongs with 
her husband to the order of Gleaners and is also a member of the Pomona 
Society of the Grange, which she and Mr. Graham helped to organize and to 
the success of which they have largely contributed. Mr. Graham is a Demo- 
crat in politics and an iiilluential worker in his party. He served four years 
as township clerk, two years as township treasurer and proved a very capable 
and popular official. He enjoys the confidence of his fellow citizens, irrespec- 
tive of political affiliation, is a public-spirited man in the most liberal meaning 
of the term and in every relation of life his conduct has been such as to com- 
mend him to the favoralile consideration of his fellow men. Mr. and Mrs. 
Graiiam have si.x children, the oldest being Linna, who was born April 9, 
1885, and is now the wife of John W. Kramer, of Isabella township. Laura, 
born December 19, 1887, was graduated from the Central Normal Institute 
at Mt. Pleasant, after which she taught three years in Michigan and in 1909 
went to the state of A\'ashington. wliere she is now engaged in educational 
work. M. Kenneth was born November 24, 1889, and lives with his parents. 
.After completing the common school course he entered a business college at 
Lansing, from which he was graduated in due time with an honorable record. 
Jeannette, born June 10, 1891, is still at home, as are also Martha L., who 
was born December 24, 1892, and H. Kendall, whose birth occurred on the 
/th of August, 1902. 



GEORGE B. STICKLE. 

George B. Stickle, farmer and fruit grower, as well as one of tiie enter- 
prising men of the township honored by his citizenship, is a native of Ontario, 
Canada, and a son of .\. X. and Elizabeth Stickle. The former, born in 1816, 
died in 1893: the latter, whose birth occurred in 1817, departed this life in 
the year 1906. George B. Stickle was born December 6, 1839, in Hastings 
county, Ontario, attended the schools of Sydney township in his youth and 



6/2 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

grew to maturity familiar with the duties of farm life. He was reared to 
habits of industry, grew up with a proper appreciation of what the world 
expected of a young man and, like a dutiful son, remained at home assisting 
his father on the farm until old enough to make plans for his future course 
of action. Having decided to devote his life to agriculture, he engaged in 
the same on attaining his majority and continued in his chosen calling in his 
native country until his removal, in 1878, to the state of Michigan. 

In the meantime 'Sir. Stickle took to himself a wife and helpmeet in the 
person of Elizabeth Munn, to whom he was united in the bonds of wedlock in 
1841 and with whom he traveled life's highway until her death, in the year 
1872. Later he married his second wife, whose maiden name was Sara 
Thorne and whose birth occurred on February 19, 1843. On coming to this 
state, Mr. Stickle located near the city of Flint, where he farmed during the 
ensuing three years, and then moved to Isabella county and took charge of a 
farm in Chippewa township, on which he lived for a period of two years, at 
the expiration of which time he purchased forty acres of land in section 7, 
Isabella township, on which no improvements of any kind had been made, 
the land being thickly wooded and presenting any but an alluring prospect 
for a home. With his characteristic energy and industry. Mr. Stickle ad- 
dressed himself to the task of clearing and improving his land and in the 
course of a few years had the largest part in cultivation and substantial build- 
ings erected. He continued his labors as the time passed until he now has 
one of the most desirable little farms in Isabella township, with impro\e- 
ments comparing with the best in the locality, his dwelling, a fine brick edifice, 
erected in 1904, being modern and a model of architecture and convenience, 
and his barn a commodious structure in size forty by sixty-eight feet, con- 
trasting favoraljly with any other building of the kind in the township. His 
other improvements, wliich mclude a wind mill, three hundred fiftv rods of 
wire fence and fise thousand tile, have added very materiallv to the value of 
the farm. 

Recently Mr. Stickle has been giving considerable attention to fruit 
growing, for which his lands seems peculiarly adapted, and he now has a 
half acre of trees that yield abundantly every year and another orchard of one 
and a half acres, from which he will soon be gathering fruit from which he 
will doubtless derive handsome profits. 

In his political views Mr. Stickle is a Republican with Prohibition ten- 
dencies and of late years he has taken an active part in opposing the liquor 
traffic, which he considers the crying evil of the times and an ulcer on the 
body politic to be gotten rid of only by drastic legislation. In matters relig- 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 673 

idiis he is a Methodist ami for three years he served as trustee of Center 
church in Isaiiella townsiiip. also helped build the present h(5use of worsiiip. 
He has always been interested in tiie i)rogress of agriculture and to this end 
united with the Grange some years ago and is now a zealous and influential 
worker in that excellent organization. He lield the position of school treas- 
urer fifteen years, aside from which he never sought official ])relermcnt nor 
aspired to jiublic recognition. 

Mr. Stickle's first marriage was blessed w ith tw o children, nanielv : .Ar- 
thur, who was born Xovember 4. 1863, in Canada, and who married .\nna 
Doolittle. of that country, and at the present time lives in the citv of Toronto: 
Olive, horn Jnne 28, 1872, is the wife of J. K. Johnson and lives at Rosebush, 
this county. His present wife has presented him with one child, a daughter bv 
the name of h'rankie, whose birth occurred on ]-"el)ruar\- 4. 1877, and who is 
now the wife of Frank Johnson, of Isabella township. 



TOHX WALTOX. 



The gentleman whose name introduces this sketch is one of the leading 
farmers of Isabella townshi]), while his fame as a breeder and raiser of fine 
stock is not only state wide, but extends to every part of the Union. As a 
man and citizen he is also well known and since becoming a resident of the 
county in which he now lives he has been actively identified with its agricul- 
tural interests and foremo.st in promoting means and measures for the social 
and moral advancement of the community. 

John Walton was born X'ovember 2, 1852, in North Middlesex countv, 
Ontario, and is a son of Xicholas and Sarali (Hughes) Walton, the former 
born -April 22, 1826, in England, the latter in Wales in the vear 1830. The 
mother departed this life in Isabella county, Alichigan, in 1889, being survived 
by the father, who is now living in Isabella township. 

John Walton spent his boyhood in his native county, attended the public 
schools of the same and grew to maturity amid the active duties and whole- 
some discipline of the farm. While still young, he began paving attention to 
live stock, his father having l)een a successful rai.ser of the same, and on 
attaining his majority he decided to make stock raising his vocation. In 
1874, when twenty-two years old. he married Jamesena Craig, of Ontario, 
and two years later. 1876, came to Lsabella township and bought one hun- 
dred and sixtv acres of land in section 8. all in the woods except one acre 
(43) ' 



6/4 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

which had been practically cleared. Going in debt for the greater part of his 
land and obliged to pay the exorbitant rate of twelve per cent, for money, he 
sold eighty acres, but later repurchased it and. in order to free himself from 
debt, subsecjuently reduced his farm to its present area of sixty acres, which is 
well named "Phoenix Stock Farm." 

^Ir. Walton has been an energetic worker, a successful farmer and in 
the matter of improvements has kept pace with the most enterprising and 
progressive of his fellow agriculturists of the township in which he lives. He 
has greatly advanced the productiveness of his land by tile drainage, of which 
he now has over three hundred rods, also four hundred and eighty rods of 
woven wire fence, while his buildings, including a comfortable modern dwell- 
ing and a large barn, forty by fifty-three feet in size, and a barn twenty- four 
by thirty feet (the above barns being built on stone and cement walls eight 
feet high with stabling underneath), together with the usual outbuildings, 
are up to date and compare favorably with the best in his neighborhood. 

Impressed with the idea that stock farming would prove more satisfactory 
and remunerative than the mere cultivation of the soil. Mr. \\'alton early 
turned his attention to sheep and ever since becoming a citizen of Isabella 
county he has made a specialty of the Shropshire and Leicester sheep, in the 
raising of which he has achieved almost national repute. He has exhibited 
his animals at a number of state fairs and stock shows throughout the coun- 
try and has taken more prizes for high grade Leicester sheep than any other 
man in the United States, a fact of which he feels deservedly proud. The 
high reputation of his animals creating a good demand for them among the 
leading sheep raisers of the country, he has sold in nearly every state of the 
Union, and to him also belongs the credit of having won five of the eight 
champion cups awarded at the Michigan state fair in the city of Detroit for 
the best ram and ewe on exhibition. But it is not by sheep alone that he has 
acquired an enviable reputation as a stock raiser, having been almost as suc- 
cessful in the matter of swine of the Berkshire breed, which he has been rais- 
ing for the last thirty years, and from the sales of which he has acquired no 
small share of the comfortable fortune now in his possession. He also takes 
great interest in poultry and keeps a large number of very fine Plymouth Rock 
fowls, which have won their due share of prizes wherever exhibited. 

Mr. Walton manifests pardonable pride in his success as a raiser of fine 
domestic animals and poultry and the high reputation which he now enjoys 
has been fairly and honorably earned. He deserves great credit for his efforts 
to improve the live stock of his own and other states, and his example is 
being imitated by many of his fellow farmers of Isabella county, who have 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MUIIKIAN. 675 

IcariK'd liy experience tliat it is just as easy to raise first-class animals as poor 
and indifferent breeds and much more remunerati\e. 

Mr. Walton's first wife, to whom reference is made in a preceding para- 
graph, was Ixirn in December. 1853, and died July 28, 1878. She bore her 
husband the following children: Sara J. married Emory First, an<l lives in 
Isabella township; James N., a farmer of the same township, is also married, 
his wife having formerly been Miss Swinelehaust ; Florin J., wdio is single, is a 
railway engineer with his headquarters at Saginaw, this state: John W., also 
unmarrietl. is in the express business at Seattle, Washington; Mina Bell, born 
October 10, 1887. died Ang.ist 8, 1890: Newton Edwin, born September 29, 
1894. died September 20. 1896; Ira C. who is in the mail service and unmar- 
ried and lives at Rosebush, Michigan. Mr. Walton, in October, 1902, mar- 
ried Mrs. Jennie L. Carpenter, who was l)orn June 24, i860, and is the 
daughter of .\lbert and Emily Larmouth, the former of Xew Vork state 
and the latter of Canada, the union being without issue. In his fraternal 
relations, Mr. Walton is an Odd h'ellow, belonging to Rosebush Lodge Xo. 
519, and also holds membenship in the Grange. Politically he votes with the 
Prohibition party and religiously is a Baptist, in which church he was a trus- 
tee for twelve years, besides serving as elder and filling several minor positions. 



EDWARD DU BOIS. 



In point of age the subject of this review is among the oldest residents 
of Lsabella county, eighty-one years having dissolved in the mists of the past 
since he first saw the light of day in his nati\e land among the romantic moun- 
tains and valleys of Switzerland. Born in the canton of Berne, that countrv. 
in 1830, he attended school during the years of his boyhood and on laving 
aside his studies learned the butcher trade, which he followed near the place 
of his birth until 1854, when he bade farewell to home and friends to car\e 
out a career in a new destiny in the great American reiniblic beyond the .sea. 
Mr. Du Bois was induced to come to this country in the hope of securing land, 
as the crowded condition in Switzerland rendered it impossible for a man to 
obtain anything beyond a mere livelihood. Landing at Xew York after a 
long but uneventful voyage, he made his way ilirect to Wayne count v. Ohio, 
where five months later he was united in marriage with Marie Burkhart, also 
a native of the canton of Berne, where her birth occurred on the 2d day of 
Xovember, 1832. I'or several years following iiis marriage he worked as a 



676 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

farm laborer and with money thus earned subsequently purchased forty acres 
of land in the abo\-e county which during the ten years ensuing he brought to 
a high state of cultivation and otherwise improved. Disposing of the farm at 
the expiration of that time, he moved, in the fall of 1864, to Isabella county, 
Michigan, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres in section 12, Lincoln 
township, which he at once proceeded to improve and on which he has since 
lix-ed and prospered, though for some years practically retired from actix'e life. 

Mr. Du Bois settled in the woods of Isabella county and the splendid 
farm which has been his home for so many years is the result of his unaided 
toil and thrift. He has been an industrious, hard-working man and by econ- 
omy and good management succeeded in acquiring a competency besides pro- 
viding comfortably for the children who have left the parental roof to estab- 
lish themselves elsewhere. In connection with the tilling of the soil he has 
paid considerable attention to breeding Durham sattle and other high grade 
live stock and from the latter source much of his income has been derived. 
Believing in improvements, he has not been sparing in the expenditure of his 
means in this direction, his buildings of all kinds being among the best in 
the neighborhood, including a commodious barn, forty by eighty feet in 
dimensions and admirably adapted to the purposes such structures are de- 
signed to subserve, also a number of well constructed sheds for live stock, 
besides a substantial and comfortable dwelling and various other improve- 
ments, all of which bespeak the presence of a master of his vocation, who 
takes pride in his home and strives to make it the happiest place on earth to 
its occupants. The Du Bois farm lies in one of the finest agricultural districts 
of the count\-. He has added \-ery materially to its productiveness by a judi- 
cious system of tile drainage, of which there is now considerably in excess 
of one mile, and the two miles of fine fencing has also increased the value of 
the place. 

While retaining a warm affection for the romantic land of his nativity, 
Mr. Du Bois is loyally American as one to the manor born, being an ardent 
admirer of the free institutions under which the greater part of his life has 
been spent and his success achieved and a devoted and public spirited citizen 
of the state in which he resides. A Democrat in politics and interested in the 
success of his party, he is not a partisan nor an aspirant for office, being con- 
tent with the plain, satisfactory life of a tiller of the soil and satisfied with the 
simple title of citizen. In matters religious the German Reformed church 
holds his creed, to which body his wife also belongs. There being no church 
of this denomination in their vicinity, they attend the Methodist Episcopal 
church at Sliepherd. 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 677 

Twehe children liave been horn to Mr. and .Mrs. Du Boi.s, Mary, 
Anna and Lena <l\ing in infancy. Those living are Edward, Emma, Fred, 
Albert and Alice, twins : Celia. Marie, Ella Louise and Carrie Elizabeth. All 
of the above children are highly esteemed and command the confidence of the 
social circles in which they move. Those who have left the parental roof are 
well settlcil in life and highly respected in the various localities in wliicii tlie\' 
reside. 



ROBERT DUNX. 



The subject of this sketcli was born in Kent county, Ontario. Mav 7, 
1861. and is a representative of two old and respected families of llial jirov- 
ince. His fatlier. who also bore the name of Robert Dunn, was born in 
181 9. his mother. Agnes Cameron, in the year 1829. These parents were mar- 
ried in Canada and spent the greater part of their lives in Ontario, the father 
dying in 1893. and the mother in 1899. Robert Dunn, of this review, was 
reared amid the bracing breezes and wholesome induences of the country, 
early formed those habits of industry and sobriety whicli make for clean life 
and honorable manhood and by attending the schools of his native county at 
intervals during his minority obtained a fair education in tiic common branches 
of study. 

L'ntil his twenty-first year Mr. Dunn remained in Ontario, l)ut shortly 
after attaining his majority he came to Isabella county, Michigan, with his 
brothers and widowed mother and settled on forty acres of land in section s, 
Lsabella township, which he purchased and partially improved. Later he 
bought his present farm of eighty acres in section 8, twenty acres of which he 
cleared in addition to what was already in cultivation, there being now but 
five acres of unimproved land on the place. Mr. Dunn has labored to ad- 
vantage and managed well so that lie is now in comfortal)le circumstances 
with a good farm, a fine home and sufficient means at his command to assure 
him a prosperous future. In connection with tlie tilling of the soil, he sells 
wire fence, in which line of business he has been quite successful, and be is 
also devoting considerable attention to horticulture, having alreadv planted two 
hundred fruit trees of the finest varieties, besides catalpas, which in due time 
will furnish ample fuel and more than sufficient fence posts for the needs of 
the fann. His buildings are sub.stantial and in good repair, the barn, a com- 
modious structure thirty-eight by sixty-eight feet in size with basement, being 
among the best in the neighborhood. The residence is comfortable and con- 



678 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

veniently arranged and the five lumdred rods of fine wire fence now on the 
place, togetlier with the excellent condition of the soil, bear evidence of the 
care and attention which he devotes to his farming interests. 

Mr. Dunn is independent in politics, notwithstanding which he takes an 
active part in public affairs and from time to time has been honored by his 
fellow citizens with important official trusts. From 1891 to 1894, inclusive, 
he served as highway commissioner, in 1909 was overseer of roads in his 
township and at the present time he is holding the office of township treasurer, 
in all of which trusts he proved capable and painstaking and lost sight of self 
interests in his efforts to promote the public good. He is an influential mem- 
ber of the Grange, in which he held the office of master for six years and is 
also a leading spirit in the Knights of the IVIaccabees lodge at Rosebush, to 
the success of which he has in a large measure contributed. 

Mr. Dunn was married in his native province to Miss Elizabeth Walton, 
who was born in Aliddlesex county, Ontario, November 2, 1863. Her father, 
Nicholas Walton, was born Tune 21, 1826, in England and her mother, Sarah 
Hughes, whose birth occurred in 1830. was a native of Wales. These parents 
spent their wedded life in Canada. The mother died in Isabella county, 
Michigan, in 1889; the father, who is still living, makes his home with the 
subject. Mr. and Mrs. Dunn have seN'en children, viz: Ethel Maud, born 
June 17, 1885, married Loren Downey and lives in Traverse City; Elmo B. 
was born August 3, 1887, and fives in California: Hilliard O., also a resident 
of the latter state, was born August 19, 1889: Worth, born September 8, 
1892, is still with his parents, as are Evit D.. born May 12, 1894, Murrill, 
born September 29, 1897, and Herman A., whose day of birth was the 9th 
of August, 1900. 



ALBERT MILLER. 



The subject of this sketch has had a varied and interesting career and 
the position he now holds among the leading citizens of his adopted county 
speaks well for his intelligence and sterling worth, also for the enterprise 
and high moral purposes displayed in all of his undertakings. Albert ?^Iiller, 
son of Orlen and Emmaline Miller, was born in Palmyra, New York, on the 
14th day of January, 1847. His father was born December zj. 1810, married 
Emmaline Bristol in 1841 and departed this life ten years after the latter 
date: Mrs. Miller, whose birth occurred April 4, 1824, died on September 30, 
1887. At the age of one and a half years, the subject was taken to Battle 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICIIIGAX. 679 

Creek. Micliigan. wliere liis father died in 1851, and one year later he was 
taken to Cleveland. Ohio, by an nncle. with whom he remained for a short 
time. Leaving the home of his relatives, he lived for a time near the above 
city with one Loren Gilbert, w ho soon moved to Dorr. Allegan county. Michi- 
gan, taking the lad with him. Young ^liller remained nine years at that 
place and then joined his mother at Bedford, this state, where he spent the 
following two years at farm labor. 

C^n September 2. 1864. when seventeen years old. he enlisted in Company 
D. Thirteenth Michigan Infantry, with which he served until the close of the 
Civil war. his regiment furming a part of the army under Cieneral Sherman 
and taking part in a number of battles in Georgia and other states. In one 
engagement he was wounded in the left shoulder and another ball grazed his 
head. He went with Sherman from Chattanooga to the sea and at the close 
of the war took part in the (Jrand Review at Washington, receiving his dis- 
charge in April. 1865. By reason of exposure while in the service he con- 
tracted an illness from which he has never fully recovered. 

In 1870 Mr. Miller married Olive B. \'an Buren, of Battle Creek. Michi- 
gan, after which he went to northwestern Missouri, and during the two vears 
ensuing farmed near the town of Princeton. At the end of that time he 
moved to Trenton in a neigh.boring county, where he remained one and a half 
years, and then returned to Battle Creek, thence after a few months moved to 
the \icinity of Lansing, where for one year he operated his uncle's farm as a 
renter. Leaving that part of the state, he spent the three years following at 
Grand Ledge and at the ex|)iration of that time came to Isabella county and 
bought forty acres of land in Isabella township, on which he erected, the en- 
suing fall, a log house for the reception of his family. Mr. ]\Iiller came to this 
county with but meagre means, the sum total of his possessions consisting of 
two yoke of cattle, a wagon a few implements and one dollar and fifty cents 
in cash. He sold one yoke cf oxen to Iniy his lantl and worked by tiie month 
to pay the interest on the same, which at the rate of ten per cent, required a 
goodly share of his earnings. With commendable courage. howe\er. he re- 
solutelv faced the future and by continuous and well directed effort hnallv suc- 
ceeded in wiping out liis indebtedness and getting his farm cleared and on a 
paying basis. It would be interesting to follow Mr. Miller's struggles and 
final triumphs in detail, but the limits of this sketch forbid more than a pass- 
ing notice. Sufiice it to state that the many difficulties and obstacles in his way 
were overcome in due time and he was enabled not only to provide comfortably 
for his family, but also to add to his real estate by the purchase of another 
forty acres which, cleared and otherwise improved, makes his present farm 



68o ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

of eighty acres one of the best and most desirable in the township. Tlie orig- 
inal log cabin and stable of similar construction have been replaced by fine 
modern buildings, the present residence, erected in 1895, being comfortable, 
commodious and well suited for the purposes for which it is intended to sub- 
serve. His barn, forty by fifty feet in size, was built in 1898, the other im- 
provements, consisting of four hundred rods of wire fence, ample artificial 
drainage and one of the interesting features of the farm is a large flowing well 
which discharges its contents at the rate of fifteen cjuarts every ten seconds 
and which is highly prized as an unfailing source of as fine water as the state 
of Michigan can aft'ord. Air. Miller is uncompromisingly loyal to the Repub- 
lican party and takes an active interest in promoting its success, being judi- 
cious in counsel and untiring in his work. He is a member of the Grand 
Army of the Republic post at Alt. Pleasant, and nothing afifords him greater 
interest and pleasure than to meet with his comrades of other times and re- 
count the thrilling experiences of their iron days of endeavor. 

Mrs. Miller was born at Battle Creek, Michigan, September 2, 1845, and 
is a daughter of Ephraim and Olive (Myers) Van Buren, who were born in 
the years of 1818 and 1824, respectively. The mother died in i860, and the 
father is still living and making his home in Isabella township. The family 
of Mr. and Mrs. Miller consists of the following children: Frank \V. married 
Louise Edmunds and lives in Lansing, this state; Clarenes, whose wife was 
formerly Carrie Johnson, is a farmer of Isabella township; Birdie is the wife 
of John Lowrey and lives in the same township; Olive D., who married Henry 
Block, resides in Nottawa township, and Jennie B., now Mrs. Chauncey 
Thayer, lives in Mt. Pleasant ; Edwin \'an Buren. who is at home at the 
present time. 



e> 



\\TLBERT W. BROPHY. 

Those who belong to the respectable middle classes of society, bein 
early taught the necessity of relying upon their own exertions, will be more 
apt to acquire that information and those business habits which alone can fit 
them for the discharge of life's duties, and, indeed, it has long been a notable 
fact that our great men in nearly all walks of life in America spring from this 
class. Wilbert W. Brophy, well-known citizen of Denver township, Isabella 
county, is a worthy representative of this class from which spring the true 
noblemen of the republic. 

Wilbert \V. Brophy was born on April 22, 1858, in Columbus township. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 68l 

St. Clair county. .Michigan. He is the son of John and Cynthia (Youngs) 
Bropliy. who came to Michigan from Ontario in 1855 and settled in Columbus 
township, St. Clair county, their present home. He grew to maturity in his 
native community and attended school there, assisting his father with the 
work on the farm until he was nineteen years of age, then, in 1877. he came 
to Lsabella county and worked here tliat fall, and the following spring he 
bought forty acres of gotxl land in section 19, Denver township, most of 
which was timbered, all but si.\ or eight acres. There was a .small log house 
on the place when he purchased it, but there were few other improvements. 
He did not use this, but erected a board shantv, si.xteen by twenty-four feet. 
He did not settle on this place until after his marriage, haxing. up to that 
event, worked at various jobs, principally doing farm work in summer with 
his brother. Norman, who resided in Isabella county at the time, and working 
in the lumber woods in Clare county in the winter months. When Mr. 
Brophv first came to Denver township there were but seven w bite men besides 
himself li\ing here. He assisted in cutting out many miles of roads and en- 
dured many hardships incident to pioneer life. He married Elizabeth Gardi- 
ner at Alt. Pleasant, on March 8. 1882. She was born March 11, 1856, in 
New Boyne, Leeds county, Ontario, from which country' she mo\ed with her 
parents, Joseph and Alicia (Rogers) Gardiner. They settled at Vassar. Tus- 
cola count)', Michigan, in 1867. and in A])ril. 1876. they removed to Isabella 
countv. .About three years after his marriage Mr. Brophy built a good house 
on his place, but. renting his farm, moved onto his father's place in St. Clair 
county and farmed there three years, then came back and settled on his present 
place and has been here ever since. In the fall of 1890 he added forty acres, 
w bich joined his original forty and he now has eighty acres. He cleared most 
all of his second forty. He has a substantial and convenient dwelling and a 
good barn which he erected himself: he has made many other substantial 
improvements on his farm, including the laying of some two hundred rods 
of tile. Since erecting his dwelling he has veneered it with brick, making it 
very attractive in a])pearance He has a basement under all of his house, and 
a flowing well sup])lies his need in this direction. He has two acres of bear- 
ing ai)])les, some grapes, plums and cherries. He carries on general farming, 
raising wheat, oats, beans, corn, beets, hay. Sixty-seven of his eighty acres 
are cleared and under a high state of cultivation. He keeps some good live 
stock, horses, cattle, bogs and sheep. He has i)ut up fi\e hundred and fifty 
rods of woven wire fencing, and he uses up-to-date farming machinery. He 
has one of the best farms in this township. 



682 ISABELLA COUXTY, MICHIGAN. 

Politically. Mr. Brophy is a Republican. He attends the Methodist 
Episcopal church, and he belongs to the Knights of the Maccabees, Eldorado 
Tent Xo. 559. at Rosebush. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Bro]>hy one child has been born, whom they named 
Irene Blanche, her birth occurring in 1886. She married Arthur Muters- 
baugh, and is living in Denver township. They are the parents of two 
children. Mr. Brophy is known to be an honest and neighborly man. good 
to his family and his friends, consequently he has the good will of all. 



AXTHOXY \V. MILLER. 

This well-to-do farmer and representative citizen is a native of Ohio, 
born in Tuscarawas county. June 7, 1850. His parents, Barrett and Margaret 
Aliller, were also natives of that state and spent their lives in its borders, both 
dying in the county of Defiance, where they had made their home for a num- 
ber of years. 

Anthony \V. Miller is the oldest of a family of nine children, which fact 
accounts for much of the labor of the farm falling to him at quite an early 
age. He was reared on the homestead in his native county and remained with 
his parents until about twenty years of age. when he started out to make his 
own way, with [Michigan as his destination. He arrived in Mecosta county, 
this state, in 1870 and for some time thereafter worked in a timber camp, later 
discontinuing that kind of work to enter the employ of a railway company in 
Allegan county. After spending four winters in the latter capacity, he re- 
turned to Ohio where, on ^larch 31, 1874, he was married to Louisa B. 
Clark, the ceremony taking place in Paulding county, where the bride's birth 
occurred on December 4, 1849. 

During the five years following his marriage, Mr. [Miller de\'oted his at- 
tention to farming in the counties of Paulding and Defiance, at the expiration 
of which time he returned to Michigan and purchased eighty acres of land in 
Rolland township, Isabella county, on which he settled in February, 1879, and 
on which he has since li\ed and prospered. [Mr. Miller's land was wild when 
he moved to it and much hard work was required to remove the timber and 
stumps and get the soil in proper condition for tillage. By dint of long, con- 
tinual work, however, the forest gradually disappeared and in due time good 
improvements were made, fine orchards and shade trees planted, to say noth- 
ing of the many other evidences of prosperity which now make the farm one 
of the finest in the township, and his home second to few in the entire county. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 683 

In the prosecutiun of his laliors he has iiiani tested not only conimendaljle zeal 
but judicious management and as a tiller of the soil he is up to date, pro- 
gressive in iiis ideas and ranks among the most enterprising men of his call- 
ing in the coniniunity where he resides. .\ gentleman of good tastes as well 
as of industrious habits, he has not been sparing of his means in beautifying 
and adding to the attractiveness of his home, as the appearance of the niddern 
dwelling with its surrounding of smooth lawn, grateful siiade trees, tine shrub- 
bery and other pleasing features al)uudantly attest. 

Mr. Miller is a Democrat in ])olitics and as such lias been elected to 
various local offices from time to time, having ser\ed four years as township 
treasurer and for more than a quarter century he has held the position of 
school assessor. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd I'-ellows 
and the order of the Gleaners and. with his wife, holds membership with the 
Methodist Episcopal church, in wlu'ch at intervals be has been honored with 
various trusts. 

Mr. and Mrs. Miller are the parents of seven living children, whose 
names are as follows: Xellie, wife of X. V. Turney: Flora, who married F. 
A. Oswalt: Carrie, now Mrs. James Welch: Lena, wife of O. W. Swisher, 
anil three who are members of the home circle. Anna. Rachel and (irover. 



CI..\rnK TI AXXKTT FSTEE. 

Among the enterprising and successful young business men of Isabella 
county none stand higher in the esteem of his fellow citizens than the gentle- 
man whose name heads this sketch. Persistent industry, well-directed effort 
and sound business judgment have been the concomitants which have con- 
tributed to the success that has crowned his labors, and his sterling integrity 
and upright life have gained for him universal respect. 

Claude Hannett Estee was born on March i8. 1879, in Coe township, 
this county. He is the son of Thomas Hannett and Caroline ( Rurlingame) 
Hannett. When a babv be went to li\c witli L. D. Estee and wife, who re- 
sided west of Shepherd. Me attended the district schools until he was four- 
teen years of age and worked some on the farm. He went to the high school 
at Shepherd one year, and taught school part of a year. He worked in a 
grain elevator at intervals. Mr. Estee having purchased the elevator belong- 
ing to Hannett & Estee. Mr. Estee went to school at Big Rapids after his first 
experience at teaching : he pursued a commercial course for a time, then re- 



684 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

turned to his home and entered into partnership with Mr. Estee, when lie was 
twenty-one years of age. He had a good education, especially in a business 
line. Thus well ec^uipped. he entered his life work in the fall of 1901. He 
assumed complete management of the business upon the death of Mr. Estee on 
September 6. 1907. However, he did not have entire charge of the elevator 
until the following January. He has greatly increased the business and under 
his capable and judicious management it has become widely known in this 
locality. Claude H. Estee has added wholesale and retail flour and feed : he 
also buys produce from the farmers, which they bring him, often from remote 
parts of the county, and he is also successfully operating a retail yard, handling 
coal, cement, etc. He has a very satisfactory and extensive patronage 
throughout the country, and he is regarded as a business man of honest 
principles and one who believes in a square deal. 

On June 26, 1903, Mr. Estee was married to Nora Bent, in Shepherd, 
Michigan. She was born on July 20. 1879, in Waterloo. Jackson county, 
Michigan. One child, bearing the name of Helen Elizabeth, now five years of 
age,, has graced this union. 

As a business man Air. Estee has been \'ery successful. He is also a 
stockholder and director in the Commercial Bank of Shepherd. He takes a 
great interest in fraternal matters, belonging to the order of Free and Accepterl 
Masons, Lodge No. 288, of Salt River, Mt. Pleasant Chapter No. iii, Royal 
Arch Masons, and the Knights Templar Commandery No. 40 in Ithaca ; also 
the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine in Detroit. 



GEORGE A. DRALLETT. 

Among the well known business men of the thriving town of Weidman 
is George A. Drallett, who in se\eral lines of trade has built up quite a lucra- 
tive patronage and is now proprietor of one of the largest and most successful 
commercial establishments in the place. Mr. Drallett is a native of Washing- 
ton county. New York, and dates his birth from the year i860. When only 
three months old he was taken to Eaton county, Michigan, where his parents 
lived for a number of years and it was in that part of the state that he grew 
to manhood and received his education. He was reared to farm labor and on 
reaching the years of maturity turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, 
in coimection with which he also bought and sold considerable live stock, the 
latter enterprise taking the greater part of his time until his thirty-second 
vear. taking horses north and exchanging for cattle. 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAX. 685 

In 1S72 Mr. l^rallctt went to Kalamazoo county, where lie remained one 
year, going tlience to Stanton, this state, where lie continued two years, 
when he oi)ened a meat market at AX'eidman, wliich town lias since lieen his^ 
place of residence. After running the market for some time, and seeing a 
favorable opening for other lines of business, he added a stock of groceries 
which found readv sale, and a little later began dealing in boots and shoes, 
gradually increasing his stock until in due time he found himself proprietor of 
a large general .store, the success of which more than realized his highest ex- 
pectations. As time passed he turned his attention to the buying and shipping 
of wool and the handling of everything in the way of produce the farmers of 
the vicinitv raised to sell, his establishment being highly prized by them by 
reason of bringing a good market almost to their doors. Having had con- 
siderable experience with live stock, he soon began buying and shipping cattle 
and hogs and hardly a week passes that he does not ship from one to two 
car loads of stock to the leading markets of the country. 

Mr. Drallett possesses unusual energy and judgment, and since locating 
at Wcidman liis Inisiness interests have brought him prominently before the 
peojile as one eminently worthy of the success which he has achieved. He 
carries a complete assortment of all kinds of merchandise so as to meet the 
demands of the general trade and as a buyer and shipper he has built up a 
business of large magnitude, as great perhaps as that of any other man in 
the countv similarly engaged. He has done much to promote the material 
growth and general prosperity of Weidman and give it its present reputation 
as a thriving business center, and has also given his influence and assistance to 
further all movements having for their object the social and moral advance- 
ment of the community. Xotwithstanding the pressing claims of his vari- 
ous business interests, he fine's time to devote to public matters, having served 
two terms as supervisor of Nottawa townshii). and he is now on his second 
term as school treasurer. He votes the Republican ticket on state and na- 
tional questions, but in township and county affairs he is independent of party 
control. 

Mr. Drallett has accumulated a handsome competency since embarking in 
business at Weidman and is one of the well-to-do men of the place, owning 
in addition to good town property one hundred and forty acres of land in 
Sherman township, which lie is having cleared for tlie pnrjjose of pasturage. 
He takes great interest in secret fraternal work, holding membership with the 
Masonic order, in which he served as junior and senior warden, and he also 
belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights of the Maccabees 
and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has passed all the 



686 ISABELLA COUNTYj MICHIGAN. 

chairs. IMr. Drallett was happily married to Nina Dunn, who has borne him 
three children, namely: \\'innie, wife of Adam Scott, of Sherman township: 
Miles married Albertice K. Holmes and lives in that township also, and 
Mitchell, who, with his parents, constitute the home circle at tiie present time. 



JOHN BEUTLER. 



Improvement and progress may well l;e said to form the keynote of the 
character of John Beutler, a well known and influential farmer and stock 
raiser of Sherman townsliip, and he has not only been interested in the work 
of adx'ancement in individual affairs but his influence is felt in upbuilding 
the community. He has been a very industrious man all his life, striving to 
keep abreast of the times in every respect, and as a result every mile post of 
the years he has passed has found him further advanced, more prosperous, 
more sedate and with a larger number of friends than the preceding". 

Mr. Beutler was born at Brighton, Livingston county, Michigan, .\ugust 
30, 1864 He is the son of John Beutler, Sr., who was born in Prussia, 
Germany, in 1823. He was drafted in the army, but on account of a crippled 
foot was not compelled to serve. He married Caroline Fuss, who was born in 
the same locality in Germany, a year after his birth, and they knew each 
other about two years before their marriage. The elder Beutler was a jour- 
neyman blacksmith, and while thus engaged met his wife. He was a skilled 
blacksmith and made good money at it. He came from Prussia to America 
in 1849, and located in Livingston county, Michigan, his wife, whom he had 
married in 1847, following him here a year later. Mr. Beutler had been fol- 
lowing his trade in Hamburg, Livingston county, two years, then moved to 
Brighton, a few miles from there, where he maintained a blacksmith shop for 
ten years, then moved to Weberville, Ingham county, where he bought a 
farm of eighty acres, also ran a blacksmith shop, hiring the work done on his 
farm. He was there three years, then sold his farm and moved to Handy, 
Livingston county, where he had a shop and bought five acres of land. Re- 
maining there five years, he then moved to Amsden, Montcalm county, where 
he lived two years, then to Wood's Corner, Ionia county, where he also had 
a shop two years. He came to Isabella county on January 9, 1877, a"*^ bought 
sixty acres of land in Sherman township, and his oldest son now lives on this 
place. He bought eighty acres more and on a part of this his son, John, of 
this review, now lives. The father was also engaged in the lumber business 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 687 

for a time. l)cing agent for a company in Saginaw. His deatli nccurreil in 
1897, and the death of hi.s wife occurred on Fel)riiar\- u, 1892. They liotli 
died at Wooden".^; Mills, where their last home was. The following children 
were born to them : I'^redericka, who married Robert Appleton, lives in New 
York: Herman. \\ho marriod Mary Mull, lives in section 27. Sherman town- 
ship, this county; Theresa, ahu married John Hine, lives at W'ooden's Mills: 
Matilda, who married Stephen Morey, lives in the state of Louisiana: John, of 
this review. 

John Rentier lived at a numher of places before coming to Isabella county. 
being then thirteen years of age. He attended school in Sherman township. 
and from the age of sixteen to twenty he kept a store next to the I'cutler 
dwelling, and got an excellent start for a boy. He remained at home until he 
was twenty-two years of age. 

On May 5, 1886, ]\rr. Beutler was married to Eliza Brooks, daughter of 
William and Xancy Brooks. She was born in Jay county, Indiana, Septem- 
ber 20, 1867, and she mo\ed to Isabella county about the same year that 
marked the advent of Mr. Beutler. This union has resulted in the birth of 
the following children : Blanche, born in 1887, lives at Beal City, Michigan, 
and is the wife of Doctor McRae ; George, born in 1889, is living at home, 
assisting his father; Clyde aiul Hervex', the former horn in 1S95 "i"'' ''^^ latter 
in 1904, are both living at home. 

Mr. Beutler is the owner of three hundred acres of excellent farming 
land, forty acres of which formerly belonged to his father, as stated in a 
preceding paragraph. It was only half cleared and was not improved, .\fter 
his marriage he lived in Manistee, Michigan, two years, working principally 
at the carpenter's trade, then he returned to Isaliella county and worked in a 
lumber mill one year, living on section 32. In the spring of 1890 he built 
a very substantial and convenient dwelling on his place. He also built two 
good barns and other outbuildings, including a work-shop, under which is a 
cellar, also a tool house. He has a modern system of water works in his 
house, pumping his water by gas engine. He uses up-to-date farming imple- 
ments, and his place indicates in every way that he is a twentieth-centiu\v 
agriculturi.>-t. He has stumped one hundred and twenty acres, on which were 
over five thousand stumjis. He has fi\e miles of stump fence, four miles of 
woven wire fence, and he has under cultivation at the present time one hun- 
dred and twenty-five acres, the rest being in pasture, and he has some first- 
growth timber. Xo small part of his income has been derived from handling 
various kinds of li\e stock, of which he is regarded as an excellent judge, 
keeping large droves of sheep and fine cattle, shorthorn Durhams, horses anfl 



688 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

hogs. He has been an extensi\-e potato raiser and has I)een \'ery successful as 
a general farmer. In 1902 he raised three thousand and four hundred bush- 
els of potatoes, for which he received the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars. 
He averages raising two thousand bushels of potatoes annually. He has a 
small orchard of choice fruit. His place is one of the model farms of the 
county, is well kept, well improved and skillfully managed. 

Mr. Beutler is interested in the Rural Telephone Company, being presi- 
dent of the same, and its widespread popularity is due in a very large measure 
to his efficient management. He is also connected with the Weidman Imported 
Percheron Horse Company, which breeds horses extensively, and he is also 
interested in the Union Hall Company, being secretary and treasurer of the 
hall which this company erected in Sherman township, which is rented for 
various purposes. 

Mr. Beutler does his own carpentering, blacksmithing and mason work, 
having full kits of tools used in these trades. He raises all kinds of small fruits 
and he raises on an average of twenty bushels per acre of rye. He uses clo\er 
as a fertilizer. 

Fraternally Mr. Beutler is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, 
Wabano Lodge No. 376, of Weidman, also belongs to Lodge No. 800, Hoor 
Arbor of Gleaners. Politically he is a Republican. He has held se\eral school 
offices, was highwa_\' commissioner two terms, township supervisor one term 
and two years township treasurer. 



CHARLES T. RUSSELL. 

This utilitarian age has been especially prolific in men of action, clear- 
brained men of high resolves and noble purposes, who give character and 
stability to the communities honored by their citizenship, and whose influence 
and leadership are easily discernible in the various enterprises that have added 
so greatly to the high reputation that Isabella county enjoys among her sister 
counties of this great commonwealth. Conspicuous among this class of men 
whose residence is in this county is the progressive citizen under whose -name 
this article is written, and to a brief outline of whose career the biograi^her 
is herewith pleased to address himself; but only the most salient facts will 
be given, owing to the well known aversion of Mr. Russell to undue laudation 
and also because of the fact that his record is already familiar to all classes, 
being a lawyer of recognized ability and a public-spirited citizen. 





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CHARLES T, RUSSELL 



ISABfLLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 689 

Charles T. Russell was Imni May i~. 1853. at Grand Ledge. Eaton county, 
Michijjan. His father was a fanner and the son remained on the home 
place, assisting with the general fann work and attended the district schools 
during the winter until lie was twenty-one years of age. Later he attended 
school in Eaton, taking a general literary course. After liccomiiig of age. he 
took uj) the study of !;iw, teaching sclmol the meanwhile in the district schools 
for four \\ inters, under a second grade certificate. He was very successful 
as a teacher. l)ut he gave it up to continue the law. studying in an office in 
Grand Ledge. He was admitted to the bar at Charlotte. Michigan, in 1877. 
and he came to Mt. Pleasant in 1878 and began the practice of his profession 
alone, enjoying a very satisfactory clientele from the first. Taking an interest 
in iniblic affairs, he was soon in line for positions of public trust, and in 1882 
he was elected prosecuting attorney and served in a very faithful manner for 
two terms. He was also president of the village for a time and was post- 
master under Cleveland's administration. In igo6 he was elected prosecuting 
attorney of Isabella county a second time. Politically, he is a Democrat. In 
1903 he was candidate for circuit judge, but the party was in tlie minority 
that year and he went down with the rest of the ticket. 

Mr. Russell was married in March. 1882. in Burlington. Vermont, to 
Nettie M. W'iiite. who !i\e<l near that city. She is the daughter of an ex- 
cellent New England family, the White family having been in tliis country 
from early times and many of them have figured more or less prominently in 
various walks of life, like the Russell family. Two children have graced this 
union. Ruby, who is teaching music in the public schools at San Bernardino. 
California, and Walter W., who is a graduate of the L'ni\ersity of Michigan 
and is engaged in real estate business in Mt. Pleasant. 

Of late years Mr. Russell has been a very Inisy man. his practice having 
gradually increased, and he figures in many of the leading law suits in Isabella 
county. He is a strong advocate of improved educational conditions, and is 
interested in the normal scln)ol at Mt. Pleasant, in fact, assisted in founding 
the same. He has always run against adverse conditions politically, lieiiig on 
the minority side, but he has stood firm with his party and served his constitu- 
ents well in the offices entrusted to him. He has been of great assistance in 
inducing various industries to locate in Mt. Pleasant, and has done what he 
could in improving industrial conditions in this \icinity. He has been a mem- 
ber of the local school board for the past ten years, and is serving iiis fourth 
term as an officer of the board. He is a director in the Phoenix Preferred 
Accident .-\ssociation of Detroit, and he is also a stockholder and director of the 
Gold Reserve Life Insurance Company of Mt. Pleasant. He is prominent 
(44) 



690 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

and active in lodge circles, being a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective Order 
of Elks and the Knights of the Maccabees, all of Mt. Pleasant. 



ROBERT HYSLOP. 



The subject of this sketch, a prosperous farmer of Nottawa township 
and a leading citizen of the community in which he resides, is a native of 
Memphis county, Ontario, born in the year 1862. John Hyslop. his father, 
was born in 1837. in Scotland, and is li\-ing at the present time in Pulaski 
county, Kentucky. His mother, previous to her marriage ^largaret Bain, 
was born May, 1847, ^"^ departed this life in the month of January, 1901. 
John and Margaret Hyslop reared a family of seven children, namely: Mrs. 
Margery Ford, who died in 1902; Margaret, of Nottawa township; Jessie, 
wife of Fred Speck, of Mt. Pleasant; Robert, of this review; Mrs. Libbie 
Keller died in the year 1900; Mrs. Stella Ash, who resides in Nottawa town- 
ship, and Lima, who li^•es witii the subject and helps operate the latter's 
hotel. 

When Robert Hyslop was eight months old his parents moved from 
Canada to McComb county, Michigan, where they remained about six years 
and then came to Isabella county, settling in Nottawa township, when there 
were only two or three families living in the township. The elder Hyslop 
bought eighty acres of wild land in section 29 and it was in the pioneer home 
in the midst of a dense forest that the subject spent his early life and grew to 
manhood. As soon as old enough he did his part in the clearing of the land 
and developing of the farm and, as opportunities afforded, attended the public 
schools of the neighborhood until accjuiring a knowledge of the common 
branches of learning. Reared a farmer and having a taste for the culti\'ation 
of the soil, he chose that vocation for his life work and ever since his young 
manhood he has followed the same with gratifying results in the township of 
Nottawa. Mr. Hyslop owns a fine body of land, consisting of two hundred 
and forty acres, of which fifty are in culti\ation and well improved, and )jy 
industry, energy and thrift he has succeeded in accumulating a handsome 
competency and placing himself in comfortable circumstances. In connection 
with agricultural pursuits he runs a hotel at Coldwater Lake, which he opened 
eighteen years ago and whicli has been well patronized in the meantime, highly 
prized bv the traveling public and pleasure seekers, and pro\ing a ])aving 
investment. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 69I 

.Mr. Ilyslop. in the year i8Si. entered the marriage relation with Lottie 
Bowman, ui Oliio. who has l)orne him the following children: Laura, I'ain, 
Fred and K\a, all unmarried and at home except Eva. who is the wife of 
Ed. Butler and lives at Mt. Pleasant. The family is highly esteemed in the 
community, the reputation hoth of parents and children being abo\e reproach, 
those knowing them best speaking most in praise of their many sterling 
qualities. Mr. Hyslop is not only a progressi\e farmer, but as a citizen he 
ranks among the most enterprising and ])ul)lic spirited of his contemporaries. 
Interested in all that benelits the community and alive to the welfare of his 
fellow men. he lives an honorable, upright life and has made the world better 
bv his presence and intluence. 



CHARLES \V. GUY. 



.\mong the prosperous farmers and substantial citizens of Rolland town- 
ship is Charles \\'. Guy. a gentleman of high character and reinitation. whom 
to know is to esteem and honor. .V quiet, unostentatious man, who makes 
his presence felt by his actions and influence rather than b\- conversation and 
public acclaim, he has contributed not a little to the stability and respect of the 
body politic and all who know him bear cheerful testimony to his many sterling 
qualities of mind and heart, ^h•. Guy is an Ohio man, born in Muskingum 
county, that state, on the ^d day of June, 1852. At the age of ten years he 
was brought to Michigan by his parents and after living for some time in 
Berrien county, removed with the family to the county of Montcalm, later to 
Ionia county, where he remained until the year 1874. Meanwhile as oppor- 
tunities afforded, he attended school at his different places of residence, and 
grew to maturity accustomed to farm labor both in the woods and the fields 
and was early taught the lessons of industry, thrift and sobriety by which his 
subsecjuent life has been chaiacterized. 

Reared to agricultural pursuits in a comparatively new country, Mr. 
Guy, on beginning the struggle of life for himself, very naturally became a 
tiller of the soil and on coming to Isabella county, in 1874. he bought eighty 
acres of land in Rolland township, at the same time took a contract for clear- 
ing land for others, to which task he devoted the spring and summer seasons, 
working during the winter months in the lumber woods. He was thus en- 
gaged during the greater part of the ensuing si.xteen years, in the meantime 
developing a portion of his own land and cultivating the same. By energy 



692 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

and well directed industry he finally succeeded in making a good farm on 
which he has erected a number of substantial buildings, besides adding other 
improvements, and he now has a productive and well tilled place of one hun- 
dred and fortv-nine acres, and a comfortable and convenient home of which 
he feels deservedly proud. As a farmer he is enterprising and his success 
has been very gratifying, as his independent circumstances attest. He has 
been a hard worker, but is now so situated as to render further continuous 
toil unnecessary, although he still gives personal attention to his farm and 
manages his interests with that ability which insures the greatest possible 
results. 

In matters pertaining to the development and growth of his township, 
he has not been a mere spectator, but, to the best of his ability, has contributed 
to bring about conditions that now obtain, besides lending his influence to 
e\erv means for promoting the general welfare of his fellow men. He is a 
Republican in politics, but not a partisan, and from time to time his fellow 
citizens of Rolland township have elected him to various local positions, in- 
cluding that of school assessor, in which he proved a capable oflicial who made 
every other consideration sulsordinate to the interests of those whom he 
served. 

While a resident of Ionia county, Mr. Guy married Sarah J. Pointer, 
who, like himself, is a native of Ohio, their union resulting in the birth of two 
children, Fred, the elder, having been accidentally killed in the woods while 
loading logs, his age at the time of the sad occurrence being thirty- four years. 
Edward, the second son, lives in Isabella county and is a farmer by occupation. 



REV. JOHN J. McAllister. 

Rev. John J. ^McAllister, the pastor of St. Henry's Catholic church and 
one of the well known and popular clergymen of the diocese to which his 
labors are confined, is a native of Michigan, born in the city of Alpena on 
April 28, 1878. After completing his preliminary studies in the schools of 
his nati\'e place, he entered the college at Montreal, Canada, where he laid 
broad and deep the intellectual foundation for his subsequent career in the 
priesthood and later pursued his theological studies in the Grand Seminary at 
Montreal; With a mind well disciplined by intellectual and professional train- 
ing, he was ordained priest at Grand Rapids on August 27, 1904, and im- 
mediately thereafter was stationed at St. Andrew's cathedral in that city 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 693 

where he labored as assistant pastor for something mure tlian a year, tiuring 
which time lie gained the esteem and confidence of liis superiors and greatly 
endeared himself to his parishioners. I'rom (irand Rapids he was transferred 
to Hay City as assistant pastor of St. James church, where he labored with 
great acceptance for two years when he was made pastor oi St. Henry's 
church, Isabella county, his present charge. 

Father McAllister entered upon his duties and labors at St. Henry in 
Xo\ember. KjOj. and is priictically the first regular pastor of the parish, al- 
though the building had been erected some years before and the locality 
visited from time to time b\ different priests who ministered to the si)iritual 
needs of the Catholic residents in the vicinity. Since taking charge of the 
work heather Mc.-Mlister has made a fine impression in the community, not only 
among his ])arishioners. luit among the people generally, irresjjective of church 
or creed, and thus far his efforts have greatly strengthened the church, both 
numerically and spiritually, and the future outlook appears most encouraging. 
He is held in high esteem by the bishop and clergy, as well as by the people 
with whom his lot has been cast, his many noble qualities of mind and heart 
commending him to Catholics and non-Catholics alike, and especially fitting 
him for the noble work of leading humanity to the higher life. Scholarly. 
de\out and charitable, he wields a wholesome influence for good and well 
deserves the w arm place in the hearts of the people which he holds. 

St. Henry's church is the outgrowth of a demand for a place of worship 
on the part of about twent\-five Catholic families that settled from time to 
time in the tow-nships of Isabella and Vernon within a radius of several miles 
from the present building, which was erected in 1885. Later the number 
increased quite rapidly until there were fully one hundred families in the 
parish, and to meet their wants, priests from other points visited them at 
intervals, but it was not until 1903 that a pastoral residence was erected and 
steps taken to make the parish an independent charge. For some years 
Father John Engemman, of Superior, and Father Crowley, of Mt. Pleasant, 
visited the parish, but it was the coming of the present pastor in 1907 that 
marked a new era in the history of the church, which since that time, under 
his wise and judicious leadership, has mo\ed steadily forward to higher and 
grander achie\cments and made its influence a power for good in the region 
round alxnU. 

The laws of the diocese of Grand Rapids require, whenever possible, a 
])arish school to be established in each parish. The work of erecting a scIkjoI 
will begin ne.xt spring. 



694 ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 

ANSEL L. MOODY. 

The enterprising farmer and respected citizen whose name appears at the 
head of this brief review was born in Eaton county, [Michigan, September 
29, 1865, being a son of W'ilHam H. and Rachel (Doxsie) Moody, a sketch 
of whom appears elsewhere in these pages. When fourteen years old he came 
with his parents to the county of Isabella and since then his life has been 
closely identified with the varied interests of the township now honored by his 
citizenship, his attention the meanwliile having been de\oted to agriculture, 
which he early chose for his vocation. Previous to and for some time after 
coming to this county he attended the public schools and though not a scholar 
in the sense the term is usually understood, he is nevertheless quite well in- 
formed and possesses a valur'ble practical knowledge such as schools and col- 
leges fail to impart. 

With the exception of four years during which he was engaged in the 
manufacture of lumber in Osceola county, this state, Mr. Moody, as already 
indicated, has devoted his time and attention to tilling the soil and as a farmer 
he easily ranks among the most successful and progressive men of his calling 
in the township of his residence. His home place of one hundred and eighty 
acres in Rolland township is admirably adapted to agriculture and fruit rais- 
ing, the soil being deep and exceedingly productive and the improvements 
among the best in the locality. One hundred and thirty acres are cleared and 
in cultivation and yield him a liberal income, in addition to which he owns 
in the same township two hundred acres of stump land, which when cleared of 
obstructions and fitted for tillage will be among the best farm land in the town- 
ship, possessing as it does a fine fertile soil, capable of producing abundant 
crops of all the grains and vegetables grown in this latitude. 

Mr. Moody is a gentleman of keen perceptions and sound judgment and 
has so managed his affairs as to obtain the largest possible results. His agri- 
cultural interests have been quite remunerative and the energy and thrift dis- 
played in his labor have enabled him to accumulate a sufficient surplus of 
material wealth to place him among the financially solid and well-to-do men 
of his community. In his political allegiance he is a Republican and while 
ever zealous for the success of his party, he has no ambition to gratify in the 
way of office or leadership, nevertheless, he has been elected from time to 
time to various public positirns of a local character, including, among others, 
that of highway commissioner, in which he served for a period of two years, 
discharging the duties of the office in a very creditable and satisfactory man- 
ner. Believing in the efficacy of secret fraternal work, he has allied himself 



ISABELLA COUNTV. MICHIGAN". 695 

w itli sc\eral societies based upon this principle, being an inrtuentiai nienii)er of 
the Masonic brotherhood, the Modern W^oodmen of America and the Order 
of Gleaners. 

The domestic chapter in the life of Mr. Moody bears date of December 
25, 1S88. at which time was solemnized his marriage with Blanche Bennett, 
danghter of l)a\id J. and b'lorence Iv (Walker) Bennett, of Eaton county. 
Michigan, where Mrs. Moody was torn on the 6th day of August. 1872. Mr. 
and Mrs. Moody have had two children, a son, Clyde, who died September 
10, H>04. in his fifteenth year, and Florence R., whose birth occurred on the 
4th day of May, 1902. 



LOREX C. PAYXE. M. D. 

.\ life devoted to the alle\iation of human ills is the record of the well- 
known physician and surgeon whose name introduces this sketch, a gentleman 
whose professional career has made his name a household word in hundreds 
of homes and who is endeared to the man\- patients whose sufferings have 
yielded to his skill. 

Dr. Loren C. Payne was born in Salem. Washtenaw county. Michigan. 
February 17, 1848, and is a .son of Barton and Maria (Cronkheit) Payne, 
natives of Ontario. N^ew York. These parents moved from the latter state to 
Michigan as early as 1838 and settled at River Rouge, near the city of De- 
troit, where they li\ed until returning to Xew York, four years later. Sub- 
sequently they again came to Michigan and for some years Barton Payne 
operated a flouring mill at Farmington, Oakland county, but, owing to failing 
health, he afterwards discontinued that line of work and engaged in lumbering 
in the county of Shiawassee, where he was accidentally killetl at the age of 
fifty-two. 

Ijiren C. Payne spent his childhood and youth at the various places 
mentioned above and was fifteen years old at the time of his father's death. 
Meanwhile he received such educational discipline as the common schools 
afforded and after the de;itli of his father he began working on a farm for six 
dollars per month, with the promise of an increase of wages as he grew 
older. The money thus earned went to the support of his mother, whose 
mainstay he continued to be until her second marriage, a few years later. 
When seventeen years old. he was employed in a woolen mill at Pontiac where 
in due time he learned the trade of weaving, receiving for his services the 
sum of fifteen dollars per week, the wages of a skillful workman. While 



696 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

tliiis engaged he concei\ed a strong desire for the medical profession and as 
soon as the opportunity admitted he began preparing for the same at Ovid, 
in the office of Doctor Leonard, a successful physician of that town, under 
whose instructions he continued until entering the Bennett Medical College, 
Chicago, where he made rapid progress in his studies and researches. On 
leaving that institution in 1S75. h^ opened an office at Eagle, Clinton county, 
where he remained six years, during which time he built up an extensive prac- 
tice and achieved honorable repute in his profession. 

At the expiration of the period indicated Doctor Pa)-ne located at West- 
phalia, in the same county, where he spent the ensuing two years and in the 
spring of 1883 transferred his office to Beal City, a new town just being 
started in Isabella county, which at that time consisted of about forty families, 
the majority from Westphalia, for uliich reason he decided to move with 
them. When he first saw Beal City the place presented anything but a cheer- 
ful outlook as a field for practice, and he almost decided not to remain, but, 
taking counsel of his better judgment, also from the opinions of a number 
of his friends and former patrons, he finally opened his office and it was not 
long until his practice taxed him to the limits of his bodily powers. During 
his sojourn of nine years at that place his patronage, which grew rapidly from 
the beginning, took a very wide range and in a region fifteen miles in every 
direction from the town he was the principal practitioner and his services were 
in constant demand. For several years he rode almost day and night and was 
out of the saddle only long enough to feed his horse and catch a few minutes' 
sleep, then away to see other patients clamorous for his help or to answer 
calls in localities remote from his place of residence. 

At the end of nine years Doctor Payne moved to Caldwell, or Two Rivers, 
a town ten miles west of Mt. Pleasant, but after spending two years there he 
sought a more favorable field for the exercise of his talents in the latter city, 
where he located at the expiration of the time indicated and where during the 
nine years ensuing he enjoyed an extensive practive which was successful 
financially and professionally. The Doctor bought a beavitiful home in Mt. 
Pleasant which he still owns and was well situated to enjoy the fruits of his 
professional labors, but in 1902 he was induced to make another change, 
perceiving, as he thought and as time fully demonstrated, a fine opening at 
Weidman, then in the palmy days of its lumbering interests and giving promise 
of future growth and prosperity. 

Since moving to Weidman the Doctor has fully sustained his reputation 
as a safe and skillful physician and surgeon, and his practice, which is one of 
the largest in the county, is still increasing, and the place he occupies in his 



ISABELLA COUXTV, MICHIGAN. 697 

chosen calling is second to that of few it any of his professional brethren in 
the central part of the state. He is still a student, keeps in touch with nicjd- 
ern professional thought and abreast i)f the times on all matters relating to 
the healing art. being a member of the Isabella County Medical Society and 
various other organizations which iia\e for their object the advancement of 
medical science. Fraternally, he is a Mason of high degree, witli whicli order 
he has been identified for thirty years, belonging to W'acousta Lodge at .Mt. 
Pleasant. iXIt. Pleasant Chapter, Royal .Arch Masons, the Independent Order of 
Odd P^ellows and Knights ot the Maccabees at the same place, in all of which 
he is an acti\e worker and inlluential in carrying out the ])rinciples upon 
which the societies are founded. 

Doctor Payne, in the year 1871, contracted a matrimonial alliance witli 
Frances Lyons, of Oakland county, Michigan, tiie union resulting in the 
birth of one child, a daughter, Minnie, who married Bert Leadman and who 
still lives with her parents. Doctor and Mrs. Payne hold to the Methodist 
creed and are acti\e workers in the church at ^^'eidman. Socially they are 
highly esteemed not only in their own community but in tiic various places 
where from time to time thev ha\e resided. 



IRVIXG :\IYERS. 



The subject of this sketch, the well known foreman of the Edwin Bell 
Company stave factory at Shepherd and deputy sheriff of Isabella county, is a 
native of Fulton county, Ohio, horn on the 13th day of December, 1863. 
When (juite young he was taken to Paulding county, in the latter state, where 
he attended school until fourteen years of age, at which time he went to work 
in a stave mill, with which line of manufacture he soon became familiar and 
to which he has ever since ilevoted his time and attention. Leaving Ohio in 
1892, he came to Shepherd and accepted a position with the E. Bell Sta\e 
Company and after working in various capacities during the eight years en- 
suing and demonstrating more than ordinary skill and worth, he was pro- 
moted in 1900 foreman of the mill, which position he has since filled with 
credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his employers. 

When a young man Mr. .Myers resolved to do well what his hands found 
to do, and by adhering to this resolution he in due time became master of the 
calling which he has so long followed and now holds a position which com- 
mands a liberal .salary. By thrift, economy and good management, he has 



6g8 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

made several judicious iuvestments, owning, in addition to a beautiful home in 
Shepherd, a good farm of one hundred twenty acres in Midland county, Michi- 
gan, which he rents and from which no inconsiderable part of his income is 
derived. Since Ijecoming a citizen of this state he has manifested commend- 
able interest in public matters, kept in touch with political issues and current 
events and taken an active part in promoting the material prosperity of his 
town and county, besides filling from time to time important official positions. 
In 1906 he was appointed deputy sheriff of Isabella county, which ofifice he 
still holds, and during the last six years he has been a member of the city 
council, doing much to promote various municipal interests in the latter 
capacity. 

Mr. Myers is a man of strong personality. positi\e in his convictions, 
though broad minded and liberal in his relations with his fellow citizens. Of 
pleasing presence and easily approachable, he has a wide circle of friends, 
among whom he is cpiite popular and by the general public he is held in high 
esteem. His has been a very active life, amid the pressing claims of which 
he finds time to devote to social matters and to discharge the duties which 
e\'ery true citizen owes to the community. He is a married man and the head 
of a vei-y interesting household, his domestic life dating from the year 1885, 
when he was united in marriage with Etta Montroy, a native of Canada, who 
has borne him children as follows : Jennie, Clarence, John, Irving, lone. Don- 
ald and Lucille, all li\ing and, with the exception of John, who holds a position 
in the citv of Flint, this state, still members of the home circle. 



DANIEL COYNE. 



Among the prosperous business men of Isabella county, ^Michigan, the 
subject of this review occupies a deservedly conspicuous place and the follow- 
ing brief outline of his career and tribute to his worth should be perused by 
those whose life work is yet a matter of the future. Honorable in all of his 
dealings, considerate of the rights of others and a man whose influence has 
ever been on the side of right, his life has been fraught with good to his fel- 
lows and the world made better by his presence. Daniel Coyne is a native 
of Canada and a creditable representative of the large and respectable class 
of citizens who from time to time have moved from that countrv to the 
L^nited States and taken a prominent part in the development and progress 
of the \arious localities in which they have settled. He was born November 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. 699 

14, 1861, in Peel countw Ontario, and is a son of Edward and Mary ( Jolms- 
ton) Coyne, holli of Canridian birth, the latter deceased, the former still a 
resident of Peel county where the greater part of his life has heen passed. 

Daniel Coyne spent his childhood and youth in Brampton, a town of 
the above county, early became familiar with the various duties of the farm 
and at intervals attended the public schools until acquiring a fair knowledge 
of the branches usually taught. I'ntil eighteen years old he remained at 
home, assisting his father with the labors of the farm, but at that age he came 
to Isabella county, Michigan, and located on eighty acres of land in section 21, 
Isabella township, 

Xot knowing what it was to eat of the bread of idleness. Mr. Coyne grew 
up to the full stature of well rounded manhood and with proper conceptions 
of life, which to be successful he realized should be directed along the line 
of inilustry. Accordingly he bent all of his energies to the development and 
imi)ro\ement of his land and in due season was rewarded with a farm which 
in point of i)roductivcness and all the elements of a pleasant home was not 
excelled by any other place ii: the township. During the ne.xt quarter of a cen- 
tury he lived and prospered as a tiller of the soil, but at the expiration of 
that time sold his farm and purchased of Thomas Gray & Son the elevator at 
Rosebush, where he has since been engaged in the grain business. Tlie ele\ator 
which he operates is twent\'-four l)y one hundred feet in dimension and 
equii)ped with the most approved machinery and all appliances for the handling 
of grain and it is needless to state that during the busy season its capacity is 
taxed to the utmost and that as much wheat, oats, barley and corn are shijiped 
from Rosebush as from an}' other town of its size in central Michigan. In 
addition to grain. Mr. Coyne deals quite extensively in lumber, salt, cement, 
etc., in all of which he has built up a large and lucrative trade, his success 
since engaging in his present business fully meeting his expectations and re- 
turning him a handsome income. At one time he ran a meat market which 
proved quite remunerative. Lnit at the end of one year he disposed of the busi- 
ness, though retaining the building, which he still owns. He then began buv- 
ing ant! shi])ping cattle, which he carried on four or fi\e years, in connection 
with agriculture and only discontiiuied his efl'orts in that line when he sold 
his fariu and engaged in the business to which he now gives his attention. 

Mr. Coyne is a Democrat in politics, a Baptist in his religious belief, and 
for several years has held the office of deacon in the congregation with which 
he is identified. He belongs to the Gleaners and is an acti\e member and 
influential worker in the Knights of Maccabees lodge at Rosebush, in addition 



700 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

to whicli he lends his influence to all worthy measures for the social advance- 
ment and moral good of the community in which he resides. 

Hannah Walton, wife of Mr. Coyne, was born in the year 1862, and has 
presented her husband with two children, the older of whom is Lome, whose 
Ijirth occurred in 1894. After finishing the common school course, he entered 
the high school at Mt. Pleasant and he is there pursuing his studies at this writ- 
ing. \^elma, the second in order of birth, saw the light of day in the year 
1905 and is a bright little miss and the light of the household. 



CHRISTIAN L. HOKEMEYER. 

The gentleman whose career is briefly outlined in this sketch is one of the 
substantial Germans who have become Americans by naturalization, but who 
nevertheless are loyal to the land of their adoption and ready, if need be, to 
make any sacrifice for its defense and perpetuity. Christian Hokemeyer was 
born October i. 185 1, in Hanover, Germany, and received a good education 
in the schools of his native place, which he attended until his sixteenth year. 
Like many of his fellow countrymen, he early decided to seek his fortune in 
the United States, accordingly at the age indicated he bade farewell to the 
scenes of his childhood and youth and, taking ship in 1875, arrived at his 
destination in due time, proceeded direct from the city of New York to Chi- 
cago, Illinois, near which place, a little later, he engaged in farming. After 
tilling the soil until 1880, he started a creamery which he operated near the lat- 
ter city during the seventeen years ensuing, at the expiration of which time he 
closed out his interests in Illinois and came to Shepherd. Alichigan, where he 
found a fa\orable opening for the same kind of business. 

Shortly after his arrival here Mr. Hokemeyer erected a fine creamery 
which, equipped with the latest and most approved machinery and appliances 
for the manufacture of butter, he has since operated at its full capacity, doing 
a large business and realizing handsome profits from the enterprise. His 
patronage includes both the local and general trades and the average weekly 
output of thirty-five hundred pounds of first-class butter, which commands 
the highest market price, is not sufficient to supply the rapidly growing de- 
mand, hence he is considering the advisability of increasing the capacity of the 
plant at no distant day. Mr. Hokemeyer is familiar with every detail of the 
business in which he is engaged and has so conducted it that he is now on the 
high road to independence. Industrious, thrifty and economical, he makes 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 7OI 

the most of his opportunities and tliose who know him l)est speak in liigh 
praise of liis well halanced judgment and business acumen and predict for him 
a prosperous career in the enterprise to which his time and attention are I)eins; 
devoted. Personally, he jjossesses many of the sterling characteristics for 
which his nationality is distinguished, and since becoming a resident of Shej> 
herd lie lias been interested in the prosperity of the town and lends his in- 
fluence and sujjport to all budable measures for the general welfare. Ere 
moving to Aliciiigan, he was a regular attendant of the German Evangelical 
ciiurcli. w itii w liich lie has long I)een identified, but there licing no organization 
of that body in Shepherd, he now attends the various Protestant congrega- 
tions of the town besides contributing of his means to their support. 

Mr. Hokemeyer has been twice married, the first time to Minnie Bushe. 
after whose death he contracted a matrimonial alliance with Louise Schwer- 
man. his present wife, who was born in Hanover, Germany, .\pril i, i860. 
The following are the names of Mr. Hokemeyer's children: Minnie. Lydia. 
Tillie. Mamie, Albert, Louis and Francis, all living and affording bright and 
pleasant hopes for the future 



JAMES E. SMITH. 

.\lthough among tlie younger citizens of Isabella county, botii as to age 
and time of residence, the subject of this review has achieved distinctive suc- 
cess in the line of liis calling and a position of influence in the township where 
he lives. 

Tames E. Smith was l.orn in Williams county. Ohio, on the lOth of 
March, 1876. and is the youngest of six children whose parents. Benjamin 
and Sarah (Cares) Smith, were also of Ohio birth and among the esteemed 
and well-to-do people of Madison township, Williams county. The early ex- 
perience of the subject on Iiis father's farm was similar in most respects to 
that of the majority of country lads, his time in summer liaving been taken 
up with labor in the fields and during the winter months he pursued his .studies 
in the district scliool near his home. .After obtaining a preliminary education, 
he completed a high school course, the discipline received being supplemented 
by a normal school training at Wauseon. Ohio, where he earned a creditable 
record as a student. While attending the above institution, he lived at home 
and contiinied his labors on the family homestead until after attaining his ma- 
jority, the meantime forming plans for the future and laying broad and deep 



702 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

the foundation for his subsequent career as an enterprising farmer and in- 
fluential man of affairs. 

After remaining in his native county until thirty years old, ^Ir. Smith 
came to Michigan and, in April, 1906, purchased seven hundred and twenty 
acres of land in Rolland township, Isabella county, about four hundred acres 
being improved, and on this farm he has since lived as a prosperous tiller of the 
soil and made his influence felt in all matters relating to the ad\ancement of 
the community and the welfare of the populace. Though comparatixely a 
recent comer and averse to any kind of publicity, the people of his township 
have not been slow to recognize his ability and sterling worth, with the re- 
sult that he has been honored from time to time with various official trusts 
and is today in no small degree a leader of thought and moulder of opinion 
among his neighbors and fellow citizens. 

Mr. Smith is pronounced in his allegiance to the principles and tradiiions 
of the Republican party and his wide general information and familiarity with 
the leading questions and issues of the day give him considerable standing 
and influence as a local political leader. He keeps in touch with all matters 
upon which men and parties divide, has well grounded convictions concerning 
public affairs and his opinions, which he expresses freely and fearlessly when 
necessary, always carry weight and command respect. A believer in re\ealed 
religion, he united with the Methodist Episcopal church a number of years 
ago and since then his daily life and conversation have been consistent with 
the faith he professes, his \^ife being a Methodist also and deeply interested 
in the work of the local church where the two hold membership. 

On March 11. 1896, in Williams county. Ohio, was solemnized the mar- 
riage of Mr. Smith and Dora Cummins, a native of the same county ai:d 
state, the union resulting in the birth of three children, namely: Homer C, 
Everett S. and Benjamin N., who. with their parents, constitute a mutually 
happy and contented family circle. 



WILLIS E. BROWN. 



Among the strong and influential citizens of Isabella county the record 
of whose lives have become an essential part of the history of this section, 
the gentleman whose name forms the caption of this biographical record oc- 
cupies a prominent place and for years has exerted a beneficial influence here. 
His chief characteristics seem to be keenness of perception, a tireless energy, 



ISABELLA COUNTY. MICHIGAN. "03 

honesty of purpose and motive and every-day common-sense, which have en- 
abled him not only to advance his interests, but also to largely contribute to 
the moral and material advancement of the community. 

Willis E. l'>rt)\vn. editor and publisher of the Isabella Comity Republican 
at Shepherd, was born in Ohio, May 6. 1856. He is. the son of Dr. Simeon 
C. Brown, who was born in 1825, and who became a prominent practitioner. 

Willis E. Brown went to school in Ohio before coming to Isabella county, 
Michigan. He went to school here until he was sixteen or seventeen years 
of age, attending sclmol with iMaiicis T)(ul<ls and J. M. R. Kenned}- in a little 
frame school house. After lea\ing school he studied music with Prof. Benja- 
min and wife, of Ionia county, Michigan, studying band and piano music with 
them nearly a year. He then taught music in different parts of Isabella 
county, giving private lessons, going from house to house twice a week, mak- 
ing his visits in a buggy. He became widely known as a skilled musician 
and a very able instructor, and he continued in this line until he went in 
business with his father in 1879. He has been a band instructor since 1880. 
When living in Mt. Pleasant he organized the Fireman's Band, consisting of 
twenty-six pieces, and drilled them; he was also director of the City Band of 
Mt. Pleasant for fi\e years. He is proficient on the cornet and, in fact, nearly 
every instrument in a band. 

Mr. Brown, his brother and father started the Northwestern Tribune in 
Salt River, and they ran this successfully for nearly two years and then moved 
to Mt. Pleasant, continuing to issue the paper under the same name, and con- 
tinued here for se\en years, during which time he built up an excellent prop- 
erty and his paper became a molder of public opinion under his able manage- 
ment. 

Mr. Brown was married in 1879. before moving t<i Mt. Pleasant, the 
ceremony uniting his fortunes with Ella Strui)Ie occurring on I'ebruary j8tli. 
She is the daughter of Dr. J. J. and Harriet (Ostorn) Struble. They became 
acquainted in Ohio when children, and were married in Salt River, Alichigan, 
their homes in the Buckeye state having been but three miles apart, and her 
parents moved to Salt River one year before the coming of the Brown 
family. To Mr. and Mrs. Brown two children have been born: Clark \\'., 
who is a clerk in the office of the secretary of state at Lansing, Michigan; 
he married Dora Brayton, Minnesota. Mae R. Brown is assisting her father 
in the management of the paper. 

.\ftcr selling out his paper in Mt. Pleasant, Mr. Brown w (irked most of 
the following fi\e years in the oflice of the Enterprise, until October, 189^. 
He then came to Shepherd and started the Isabella County Republican, under 



704 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

the firm name of W. E. Brown & Son, starting the paper on December 14. 
1893. Since that time he has moved four times, and has been in his present 
location two and one-half years. He has by judicious management and close 
attention to business built up a very fine paper which is rapidly growing in 
circulation and which is- regarded as one of the best edited papers of its type 
in this section of the state. It is rendered valuable as an advertising medium 
and is a newsy and popular sheet with all classes. 

Mr. Brown is a member of the Republican township committee, and he 
never loses an opportunity to foster his party's principles. Fraternally he is 
a member of the Knights of the Maccabees, Tent No. 237, of Shepherd. 



NORRIS J. BROWN. 



Though a comparatively recent resident of Isabella county, there is no 
more public spirited citizen or enthusiastic business man in Mt. Pleasant than 
N. J. Brown, secretary-treasurer and general manager of the Mt. Pleasant 
Light and Fuel Company. He is one of those solid men of brains and sub- 
stance who give stability and prestige to a city. Having a keen appreciation 
of the inestimable value of civic improvement and commercial supremacy, he 
is always alert in promoting and endorsing every enterprise that has for its 
object the moral and material betterment of the community. 

Mr. Brown became a citizen of Mt. Pleasant in 1904, but during his 
residence there he has been particularly active in championing every move- 
ment calculated to improve his adopted city. 

Mr. Brown is a native of the Empire state, having been born in the town 
of Granby, Oswego county. New York, April 21, 1852. the son of Erastus and 
Jane E. (Miller) Brown, both also natives of New York. 

Erastus Brown, a farmer by vocation, came from New York to Michi- 
gan in 1855, locating in Branch county, where he lived until i860, when he 
removed to Ionia county, living there until 1887, and finally settling in Mont- 
calm county, following, the meanwhile, the pursuit of an agriculturist. To 
him and Jane E. were born three children, viz: Emma, who is the wife of 
Jason Hicks, of Belding, Michigan: N. J., of this sketch, and Ida, who is 
the wife of William Lang, of Kalamazoo county, Michigan. The mother of 
these children died February 21, 1888, and in the year 1896 Erastus Brown 
married Mrs. Belle Grasely. 

Erastus Brown died in 1907. at the age of eighty-three years, in Mont- 




NOKRIS I KROWN 



ISABF.I.t.A COUNTV, MICHir.AX. 7O5 

calm county, Michigan. lie was a man of tine habits, an indefatigable 
worker all through life, and the possessor of a comfortable competence. He 
was a Methodist and a Prohiliitionist. 

X. J. Brown receivefl his primary education in ilie district schools of his 
community. .\t tiie a^e of fomieen years he was ad\anced to tlie high 
school at Portland, Michigan, from which he graduated in the classical course 
in 1S71. At the age of si.xteen years, howeNer, he had l^eguii teaching school 
in Ionia county, which he successfully followed there for five years, and then 
taught one year in Montcalm count}'. In the mcantiiue he had undertaken 
the study of law in the ofTice of lion. A. Williams, of Ionia, and was admitted 
as a member of the Ionia bar in 1873. He began practice in Montcalm county 
in 1875, and met with unusual success from the start. Always a popular and 
intliiential Republican, his fitness for official position was soon recognized by 
his jiarty. I'or four years he was circuit court commissioner of Montcalm 
county and was then chosen |)rosecuting attorney, serving four years. As the 
state's attorney he was particularly aggressive and unusually successful. In 
1881) he was elected to the state Legislature from Montcalm county by a 
majority of four hundred and forty-one. whereas his predecessor had been 
elected by only one. .As a member of the U)wer house, he was very active 
and ethcieiit and was the author of several import.'uit bills. He was chairman 
of the committee on railroads and a member of the judiciary committee. His 
po|)ularity gained for him the sobriquet "the big-hearted member from Mont- 
calm." 

In i8()0 Mr. I'rown remo\-ed to Muskegon. Michigan, where he again 
met with flattering success as a lawyer and for one year was city attorney. 
In January, 1897, he removed from Muskegon to Grand Rapids, where he 
also commanded a prominent position as a lawyer and citizen. 

In 1904 Mr. iSrown came to Mt. Pleasant and organized the Mt. Pleasant 
Light and Fuel Comjjany. Primarily it was not his intention to relin(|uish 
the practice of law, but later circumstances made it imminent, in order to 
better conserve his interests, that he assume personal charge of the concern. 
From the organization of the company to the I)uilding of the plant, Mr. 
P>niwn has been the guiding genius of the institution, .\mong her public 
utilities there is none of which Mt. Pleasant has more just cause to be proud 
than the service which is given by the Mt. Pleasant Light and Fuel Company. 
It is one of the most modern and up-to-date plants to be found in the state, 
while the (juality of the gas, together with the service reiulered. is of that char- 
acter which i)leases the people and insures good dividends for the stockhoklers. 
The companv is a close corporation, w ith a cai)ital stock of seventv-five thou- 



706 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

sand dollars, Mr. Brown controlling a majority of the stock. They secured 
their franchise September 21, 1903, and work was begun the following De- 
cember. The mains were laid in 1903, and the supplying of gas to the patrons 
began February i, 1905. The company has ten miles of mains, and maintains 
a first class office on Broadway. 

Mr. Brown was married in Montcalm county, Michigan, December 21, 
1876, to Anna B. Pitcher, who was born in the state of New York in the year 
1852, the daughter of Joseph and Mary Pitcher, whose parents were pioneers 
of Michigan. To them came two children. Lula M., born February i, 1878, 
and \Vells B. Brown, who is associated with his father in the Mt. Pleasant 
Light and Fuel Company, being vice-president of the company and a director 
of the same. He was born December 4, 1883, and received his education in 
the schools of Muskegon and Grand Rapids, Michigan. He spent three years 
in the clerical department of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Company 
offices at Grand Rapids, and in 1904 came to Mt. Pleasant with his father. 
He was married July 5, 1906, to Vivian Dodds, daughter of William Dodds, 
of Mt. Pleasant. Like his father, he is a man of fine business aptitude, 

Mrs. Anna B. Brown died July 5, 1906, and on October 23, 1908, N. J. 
Brown was married to Mrs. Eppa A. (Rich) Brown, of Grand Ledge, Michi- 
gan, a schoolmate of his boyhood. 

Fraternally, Mr. Brown is a Mason and an Elk. As previously stated, 
Mr. Brown has been an influential factor in promoting the growth and de- 
velopment of his home city. He was the prime organizer of the Mt. Pleasant 
Board of Trade and was its first secretary. He takes an especial interest in 
everything that will conduce to the industrial improvement of the community, 
and few cities can claim a more thoroughly progressive, public spirited, broad- 
minded citizen than he. 



FRED D. EARNER. 



This well known and esteemed citizen of Lhiion township hails from 
Ohio, the state so prolific in great men, having been born in Maumee, Lucas 
county, on May 7, 1874. His father, John E. Earner, also a native of the 
Buckeye state, was born February 7, 1840, and when a young man married 
Catharine Dill, whose birth occurred on February 12, 1850. John E. Earner 
joined the One Hundredth Ohio Infantry at the breaking out of the Great 
Rebellion and served the full term of three years, during which he participated 
in some of the most noted campaigns and battles of the war and earned an 



ISABl LLA CULNTV, MICHIGAN. "07 

honorable record as a brave and gallant soldier. He and his estimaljle wife 
ha\e been residents of Isabella county, Michigan, for some years and at this 
time live in tlie town of Mt Pleasant, where they enjoy the confidence of a 
large circle of friends and acquaintances. Of their family of two children, 
the subject of this sketch is the first in order of birth, the second, a daughter, 
Maude, being the wife of D. R. Myers, a hardware merchant and respecteil 
citizen of Maumee, Ohio. The early life of Fred D. b'arner was spent on 
the home farm in Lucas cornty, where in due time he became familiar with 
the varied duties of agriculture and while still young matured plans for his 
future course of action and conduct. In the public schools of his native 
locality and the Da\ is Uusiness College of Toledo, Ohio, he laid the founda- 
tion of a sound practical education and after assisting to cultivate the home 
place and helping manage the dairy until attaining his majority he began life 
upon his own responsibility, choosing for a vocation the honorable calling of 
agriculture which he has since followed w itli the success and profit character- 
istic of the master of his calling. In the year 1903 Mr. Farner came to 
Isabella county. Michigan, and located on what is known as the l'~err)- place, 
one of the oldest farms in Union township, the first improvements on which 
were made by the Indians a numljer of years prior to the advent of the w bite 
man. In addition to the eighty acres in this place, he purchased forty acres 
adjoining and now has a beautiful and well culti\ated farm of one hundred 
and twenty acres where he carries on general agriculture, besides devoting 
considerable attention to dairying, which adds very materially to his income. 
Since moving to his present place he has made a number of valuable improve- 
ments, including a fine barn, fifty by thirty-six feet, which admirably answers 
all the purposes for which intended, also an eighty-five-ton silo, besides a large 
amount of fencing and ditching, the latter consisting of something in excess 
of four hundred rods, resulting in the reclaiming of a number of acres of fine 
land and greatly enhancing its productiveness. As a farmer, Mr. Farner 
is easily the peer of any of his neighbors similarly engaged, being industrious 
and progressive in his ideas and belie\ing in modern improvements, various 
kinds of which be has adopted to his great advantage from a financial point 
of view. By well directed labor, good management and economy he has not 
only gotten his farm in splendid condition and made it one of the most de- 
sirable rural homes in L'nion township, hut with conimendalile thrift he has 
added continuously to his means, until he is now in independent circumstances 
with a sufficiency of material wealth at his command to insure his future 
against any ordinary contingency that may arise. 

Interested in all that relates to agriculture, he has been a leading spirit 



708 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

in I'nion Grange No. 1220, which organization he served six years as secre- 
tary and to tlie success of which he has contributed in various ways. He also 
held the position of school director for six years, besides having served as 
trustee and clerk of the local branch of the United Brethren church, to which 
he and his wife belong. 

Mrs. Farner was formerly Daisy Rowe, the accomplished daughter of 
Re\'. Jacob A. and Nancy (Drake) Rowe, the father born May 13, 1850. in 
Shelby county, Ohio, the mother in the year 185 1, in the same state, their 
residence at the present tiuie being Chapin, Michigan, where Mr. Rowe is 
engaged in the ministerial work of the United Brethren church. After re- 
ceiving a preliminary training in the public schools Mrs. Farner completed a 
high school course in Swanton, Ohio, and, as already indicated, she is a lady 
of culture and refinement whose beautiful life and gentle influence have not 
only made her home a very happy one, but also rendered her quite popular in 
the community where she resides. She too is an active worker in the Grange 
and since childhood has been deeply interested in the church and Sunday 
school, also being at this time a respected member of the congregation with 
which identified and zealous in pron:oting all worthy movements for the intel- 
lectual and moral advancement of those with whom she mingles. No citizen 
of Union township stands as high in public esteem as Mr. Farner. Although 
comparatively a young man, his career has been signally successful and what 
he has already achie\ed bespeaks for him a bright and promising future. In- 
telligent, enterprising and public spirited, he stands for progress and improve- 
ment, and on all moral issues his voice and influence are on the side of the 
right as he sees and understands the riglit. 



ROBERT L. KENNEDY. 

Tf» the person traveling by railway across Isabella county in this day it 
seems almost incredible that only a few decades ago almost every foot of land 
was covered with a dense forest through which even the light of day scarcely 
penetrated. But such was the fact. The tide of civilization swept westward 
and innumerable hands ha\'e removed the great woods, but not without toil and 
hardship. This would ne\er have been done had it not been for the fertile 
soil beneath and the comfortable homes that awaited the efforts of the settlers. 
The task was a long one, but repaid the pioneer well for his trials and labor. 
Robert L Kennedy, one of the well known and progressive farmers of Isabella 



ISABKI.I.A COL'NTY, MICHIGAN. 7O9 

township, passed througli just such experiences. He has certainl\- played well 
his part in letting in the sunhght to the fertile acres and causing the wheat and 
corn to tlirive on the site of the virgin forests, and because of his life of in- 
dustry and honesty and his public spirit he is justly entitled to rank among 
the leading citizens of his locality and have a place in its history. 

Mr. Kennedy was born of a sterling old Canadian family, his birthiilace 
being in Oxford county, Ontario, Canada, and the date April lo, 1842. Me 
grew to maturity in his native community and was educated there. He has 
made farming his chief life work and has been very successful in this line of 
endeaxor. He left Canada when twentv-eight years of age and went u> Kan- 
sas where he remained six years engaged in farming. He then came to \\ ash- 
tenaw county. Michigan, where he lived three years. He then came to 
Isabella county, and settled in section 7, Isabella township, on one hundred and 
twenty acres of timbered land. There was not so much as a road through it 
or around it. But he set to work with a will and cleared it and soon had a 
very comfortable home and an excellent farm which he has kept imj^roving 
from time to time until it ranks with the best in the township. In 1900 he 
built an excellent barn, forty-four by eighty feet, with a basement beneath. 
He has eight hundred yards of wire fence, and has a splendid and cozv dwell- 
ing, in fact, everything to make life desirable in the country. 

Mr. Kennedy is a well educated man and keeps well posted on current 
events and abreast of the tin;es in modern thought. Besides a good common 
school education he attended the Bryant & Stratton Business College in 
Buffalo, New York. He is a faithful member of the Baptist church and a 
liberal supporter of the same and is a deacon in the local congregation. He 
is also a Bible class teacher and superintendent of the Sunday school, ha\ ing 
held these offices for several years, in fact, he is a pillar of the local church. 
His wife is also a great chuich worker, is president of the Ladies Aid Society 
and teaches in the Sunday school. Like her hu.sband. she is influential in the 
community and has a host of warm personal friends. Politically. Mr. Ken- 
nedy is a Kepul)lican, but he has never figured prominently in political matters. 

Mr. Kennedy was married in Canada when twenty-six years of age to 
.\lt;i M. bitch, who was born of a fine old family, in 1848. This unif)n has 
been blessed by the birth of the follow ing children : James S.. who married 
b'lizabeth Lyon, is principal of the East Saginaw central school. He was the 
first male graduate of the Central State Xormal : Frank, a printer, married 
-Mice Cummings and lives in Los .\ngeles. California: Hattie. the eldest, mar- 
ried Orcn Culver and lives in Frankfort. Michigan: Gertrude married George 
Robinson and lives in Seattle: Robert, a graduate of the Central State Xormal, 



y\0 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

married Edna Wier and lives in Bay City ; Howard, who has remained single, 
lives in the state of \\'ashington : Florence married R. F. Hughes and lives 
in Los Angeles. These children were all given the advantages of a good 
education, were reared in a most wholesome home atmosphere and are well 
launched in the affairs of the world, all highly respected in the communities 
where thev reside. 



WILLARD McCULLUM. 

The descendant of sterling Scottish ancestors, whose many fine traits 
have come down to him, W'illard ^IcCullum has directed his efforts along such 
legitimate lines as to be worthy of ranking with the leading agriculturists 
and citizens of Nottawa township, Isabella county. He has shown himself 
to be a man of courage, self-reliance and of the utmost integrity of purpose, 
as a result of which, he has, during his entire life, stood high in the estima- 
tion of his neighbors and friends and is therefore deserving of a place in thiS 
book. 

Mr. McCullum was born on June i", 1859, in Franklin countv. New 
York. He is the son of Jnhn McCullum, who was born in Scotland. He 
was a seafaring man and came to New York city as a sailor. He married 
Evaline Martin, a native of the state of New York and their union resulted 
in the birth of these children : Lily Jane is living in Jackson county, Michigan; 
Calvin lives in Clinton county, this state; Henry lives in Jackson countv; 
Willard, of this review. 

The subject of this review remained at his parental home until he was 
twenty-one years of age, working on the home farm and attending the neigh- 
boring schools. He then came to Jackson county, Michigan, and, liking the 
prospects there, decided to cast his lot in that county. While li\ing there he 
met and married Emaline Towne, who was born March 17. 1883, at Jackson 
City. To this union these children have been born : Inez is living at home and 
is teaching school ; Sabry, w-ho married Bennet Humbret, is living in Nottawa 
township; Mildred is teaching school and living at home; Iva and Irene are 
living at home. 

Mr. [McCullum remained in Jackson county six years, engaged in farm- 
ing principally, and he bought one hundred acres of first class land. This was 
during the panic of 1883 and 1884. In April, 1887, he came to Isabella 
county, and after he had lived here a year he settled on the place which he now 
occupies and which he has brought up to a high state of improvement and culti- 



lSAlUI.r,.\ COUNTS'. MICHIGAN'. /I I 

vatioii. It consisted of forty acres of timbered land. He cleared it unaided 
and built, at first, a small log house. His dwelling is now well worth two 
thousand dollars, is well furnished and has a good cellar and a furnace, and a 
wind-mill stands nearby. He has modern farming macliinery and his place 
indicates that he is a \cry progressive agriculturist. His one hundred acres 
is high grade land and yields abundant harvests, is well fenced and in good 
shape in every way. He has a splendid orchard of two acres and some other 
small fruit. He keeps various kinds of live stock and a considerable part of 
his income is derived from them. His land is all under cultivation and in a 
high state of improvement. 

Politically. Mr. McCulium is a Republican and he attends the Disciple 
church at Gilmore. He has held se\eral minor offices in his township, but is 
not a ])olitician. He has, besides his house and barn, another dwelling and 
barn on his place in which his daughter Sabry and her husband live. In the 
fall of 1900 he built an excellent barn with a basement, thirty-six by sixty 
feet. He raises mostly hay. corn, beans and wheat, liesides large numbers 
of live stock, as already indicated, and he is very successful in all his opera- 
tions. 



C1I.\RLES H. GOULD. 

The gentleman whose name appears above is a nati\e of Branch comity. 
Michigan, and a son of George and Lida Gould, both of this state. The 
father, whose birth occurred in 1856. died in the year 1893; the mother, who 
survived him, is living at this time in the county of Van Buren. 

Charles H. Gould was born April 12, 1880. spent his childhood and 
youth ou the family homestead in California township of his native county, 
received a common school education and remained with his parents until his 
twenty-first year. On attaining his majority he severed home ties and went 
to Macosta county, but after spending a few months there he came to Mt. 
Pleasant and engaged with Mr. Rogers to learn the jeweler's trade. During 
the four years he was under the instruction of that gentleman he became 
quite a skillful workman, and at the expiration of the time indicated he e.s- 
tablished himself in busines* at Rosebush, where he has since remained. 

In addition to conducting a general jewelry establishment and doing the 
work which necessarily belongs to that line, he also conducts an undertaking 
business, having become familiar with the latter while learning his trade. 
From time to time he added other lines of goods, such as hardware, furniture. 



712 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

etc., and is now the proprietor of a general store, with a custom which is 
steadily growing in magnitude and importance. 

Mr. Gould is a young man of great energy and fine business talent and 
his success since locating at Rosebush has more than justified his venture, as 
the rapid advancement of his establishment attests. He is enterprising and 
public .spirited, takes an active interest in all that pertains to the growth of 
the town and lends his influence to every lauclaljle measure for the general 
welfare of his fellow men. Fraternally, he holds membership with Lodge 
No. 519. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has passed all the 
chairs, and religiously is identified with the Church of Christ, Scientist, at 
Mt. Pleasant, to which organization his v.ife also Ijelongs. Since old enough 
to exercise the rights of citizenship, he has manifested a li\ely interest in 
political matters and as a Republican he wields a strong influence for his 
party in his part of the county, being one of its leaders and trusted counselors 
in the community where he resides. He is now serving his third term as 
township clerk, in which office he demonstrates ability of a high order, as 
well as proving faithful to every trust reposed in him by his fellow citizens. 

On the 1 2th day of October, 1906, Mr. Gould entered the marriage rela- 
tion with Gertrude Jeffords. She was born August 25, 1878, being a daugh- 
ter of Jason and Evalyn Jeffords, of Isabella county. Mrs. Gould is a lady 
of intelligence and varied culture, highly esteemed by the social circles in 
which she moves and by her beautiful life and amiable qualities has gained 
the friendship and good will of all with whom she comes in contact. 



S. P. MURTHA. 



Among the leading farmers and stock raisers of Coe township is the 
gentleman whose name appears abo\-e. He also holds worthv prestige as a 
citizen and is a creditable representative of that large and eminently respectable 
class of people who by deeds rather than words give stability to the body 
politic and by their influence honor the communities in which they reside. 
S. P. Murtha was born August 6, 1846, in Ionia county, Michigan, being a 

son of and Ann ( Hoy) Murtha, natives of Ireland, but for a numlier 

of years prior to that date residents of the United States. When the subject 
was eight years old, his parents moved to Isabella county and settled on a 
quarter section of land in Coe township which the father bought, later secur- 
ing an additional eighty acres which, with the original purchase, he sub- 



ISABELLA COUNTV, AIICHIGAN. "13 

se((iiently divided among his children. Young Murtha grew up in close 
touch with honest toil and received a fair educational training in such schools 
as were taught in this part of tlie country in an early dav. Reared a farmer, 
he early decided to make agriculture his vocation, accordingly when old 
enough to hegin life for himself he received eighty acres of land from his 
father wliich he at once hegan to improve and which by his effective labors 
was in due time cleared and in cultivation. 

Mr. r^hntha's career as a tiller of the soil has been entirely satisfactory 
as his fine farm and excellent improvements attest, and it is no disparage- 
ment to others to claim for him a jilace in the front rank of Isabella county's 
most enterprising and successful agriculturists. In connection with general 
farming he devotes considerable attention to the breeding and raising of lu'gh 
grade live stock, which returns him a hnudsome income, and he also realizes 
no small sum from the fine cows which he always keeps, there being about 
ten of these superior animals on his place at the present time. 

Mr. Murtha is a member of Lodge Xo. 239. Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, at Shepherd, and has passed all the chairs in the same, besides repre- 
senting the organization twice as a delegate to the grand lodge. He. belongs 
to the Knights of the Maccabees at the above place, also l>eing an influential 
worker in the society and at intervals has been honored by his brethren with 
important official trusts. 

The domestic life of Mr. Murtha dates from December 9, 1877, at 
wbicli time was solemnized his marriage with Catherine Gruber, of Coe town- 
ship, this county, fi\e children resulting from the union, namely: Montel, 
decea.sed : Nellie, who lives in Idaho: Mildred, wife of Harry Wetzel: Ar- 
thur, a student in the medical department of Michigan University at .\un 
Arbor, and Dale, who li\es at home. 

The father of the subject came to .\merica when eleven years of age 
and for some time thereafter lived in Vermont. From that state he went to 
New "S'ork. thence, after some years, removed to Ionia county. Michigan, 
where he engaged in agricultural jiursuits and where be resided until his re- 
moval to Isabella county a- already stated. Here be secured valuable real 
estate which he (li\ided among his children and during his residence in this 
county he became widely and favorablj' known and stood high as an intelli- 
gent and public-spirited citizen. Ann Hoy, mother of the subject, was born 
in the same part of Ireland in which he first saw the light of day and both 
made the voyage to the L'nited States on the same vessel. Thev knew each 
other from childhood and were married in New York, the following children 
being the fruits of their union: Thomas, Michael and Elizabeth, who are 



714 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

deceased ; S. P., of this review ; George, who married Hilary Stouble and Hves 
in Alt. Pleasant: Arthur, also a resident of Isabella county; Sarah, wife of 
John Young, lives in California, and Richard, who married Elizabeth Rodder, 
makes his home in the latter state. 



JOSEPH W. FATE.' 

The suliject of this .sketch is essentially a business man and as such has 
matle his influence felt among his contemporaries, besides rising to a promi- 
nent place as a public spirited citizen. Like many of the enterprising men to 
whom Michigan is greatly indebted for its material prosperity and present 
proud position among its si.^ter states, he is a native of Canada, having been 
born in Bruce county, Ontario, on the 7th day of July, 1871, being a son of 
Joseph H. and Rachel (Schwoob) Fate, of English and German descent re- 
spectively. When Joseph W. was about two and a half years of age his par- 
ents moved to Mecosta county, Michigan, and settled on a tract of land which 
had been partially cleared ?nd on which he grew to maturity, assisting his 
father with the labor of improving and cultivating the farm when old enough 
for his services to be utilized. In the di.strict schools he obtained a fair 
knowledge of the branches taught, and at the age of sixteen began making his 
own way in the world by working in the lumber woods. During the fourteen 
consecutive years which lie devoted to that kind of labor, he was employed 
principally in drawing logs, which experience, although hard at times and 
rough, served to develop a strong, vigorous physique and aroused in him a 
self reliance and spirit of manly independence which have served him well in 
his subsequent career as an enterprising and progressive business man. 

.\t the expiration of the period indicated above, Mr. Fate discontinued 
lumbering and engaged in the grain trade at Remus, this state, in partnership 
with D. M. Mansfield, the firm thus constituted lasting six and a half years, 
during which time they greatly extended the scope of their operations, built 
up a large and lucrati\-e patronage and became wideh' and favorably known as 
enterprising and eminently honorable business men. Severing his connection 
with his partner in the spring of 1905, Mr. Fate came to Blanchard, where he 
was instrumental in erecting the large warehouse which has proved of such 
advantage to the village and adjacent country and which, occupied at the pres- 
ent time by T- ^^ • Fate & Company, has made the town one of the most im- 
portant local trading points in Isabella county. 



ISABLLLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN'. 715 

Tn a(l(litii)ii to han(llin<j grain, tlie comijan)- deals extensively in all kinds 
of pniduce. thus affording a fine and easily accessible market which is greatly 
prized by the farmers throughout a large area of territory. Mr. I'ate is an 
intelligent, wide-awake man. thoroughly devoted to his business affairs and 
deeply interested in all that makes for the material growth and development 
of the community. He keeps in touch with matters of public import, is alive 
to the leading questions of tiie day and as a neighbor and citizen enjoys the 
confidence of all with whom he has relations, business or otherwi.se. and it is 
a compliment wortiiily bestowed to class him with the leading men of the 
county in which he li\-es. 

.\s a mcmlier of the school board Mr. Fate has done much' to promote 
the educational interests of the community and in private capacities his inllu- 
ence has ever been used for the good of his fellow men. b'raternallv. he 
belongs to the Modern \\'oodmen of .\merica. 

On July 19, 1895, in the town of Remus, Mr. Fate was united in marriage 
with Margaret Seitz. whose birth occurred in Ontario and who lived in that 
province until her sixteenth year, when she came to Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. 
Fate ha\e a beautiful home which is made interesting In- the presence of three 
children. Martha E., Gertrude S. and Margaret R. 



LIXUS D. ESTEE. 



.\mong those persons who, by virtue of their strong individual (pialities. 
earned their way to a high standing in the estimation of their fellow citizens, 
having by sheer force of character and persistency won their wav from an 
humble beginning to a place of prominence and influence in the communitv 
where they were active in industrial affairs, the late Linus D. Estee is entitled 
to special mention in a volume of this character He was a man whom 
evervone admired, living, and now that he has taken up his abode in the 
"v\ indowless palaces of rest" his memory is revered l)y a verv wide circle of 
friends and ac(|uaintances, and the young man hesitating where the highwavs 
divide could take no better model in shaping his career than to follnw that 
of Mr. Estee. 

Born o!i March i8. 1850, in Chautau(|ua county, Xew "S'ork, his parents 
brought him to Michigan when he was five years of age, his father buving 
one hundred and sixty acres of land in Coe township. Isalx^lla county, for 
which he paid fifty cents per acre and which subsetiuently became verv valiM- 



7l6 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

ble land. Here Linus D. Esvee assisted in clearing and dexeloping the place, 
living at home until his marriage. Advantages for obtaining an educatinn in 
those early days were meager, but he attended the district schools during the 
winter months for a time, later "picking up"" a great deal of miscellaneous 
knowledge. When twenty years of age he was married in Pennsylvania to 
Sarah Miller, whose death occurred in Pennsylvania, on Januarv 12, 1884. 
While living there he adopted a baby, Claude Hannett, who assumed the name 
of Estee. On March 28. 1886, Mr. Estee married Xettie J. Campbell, a 
representative of an excellent old family, being the daughter of James and Eu- 
phema ( Nell)' ) Campbell. They were married in Coe township, Isabella 
county, Michigan, this union being without issue. After his first marriage. 
Mr. Estee li\'ed on his father"s farm until he purchased a farm adjoining that 
of his father, also bought a little in another place, making in all fifty -one 
acres. He erected a house and barn and lived on the place until about 1904. 
making a pronounced success in his farming and stock raising operations. 
He then moved to Shepherd where he lived some time before moving into 
the present beautiful Estee home. It is an elegant and sulistantial house of 
cobble stones and cement blocks. It is one of the most pretentious and is the 
best built dwelling in Shepherd, and here the many friends of the family 
always found an old-time hospitality and good cheer prevailing. 

Before the death of his first wife, Mr. Estee conducted the Exchange 
hotel in Mt. Pleasant about a year. He took his wife to her home in Penn- 
sylvania and there her death occurred. Soon afterwards he worked in Mt. 
Pleasant for Carr & Granger in the elevator business. He did well at what- 
e\ei- he undertook, and when the railroad was built into Shepherd he came 
here and went into business with the Mr. Hannett referred to above, in 
1886, which partnership continued from the spring of 1886 until 1893, when 
the partnership was suspended, and until about 1900 the subject conducted 
the business alone in a very successful manner, then took his adopted son, 
Claude, in with him. From 1900 until about three years before his death he 
attended to the buying. lea\ing young Estee to take charge of the books and, 
in fact, to look after the principal part of the Inisiness. The death of Mr. 
Estee occurred on September 6. 1907. after having been in failing health for 
two or three years. He was a highly honored and influential man, beloved 
and respected by all, and at his death the local paper said: 'Tn the death of 
Mr. Estee the village suffers the loss of a foremost and progressive citizen, 
one who was allied with e\ery substantial improvement looking toward the 
welfare of Shepherd and his interests were unselfish. Mr. Estee has added 
greatly in making our village the good market point that it is today. He 



ISABELLA COrXTY, MICIIIGAK. 7I7 

will be greatly missed, both in bis linnie and outside, as be was a great home 
body, a good provider, and always thoughtful of the poor." 

Mr. llaunett. who was liis partner in business for several years, speaks 
ver_\ liighlv of bim. and when he said that Mr. Estee was always very well 
known, iiaving lived in the community nearly all bis life and was in busi- 
ness that would bring bim in touch with all classes of people who always knew 
him to be honest in all bis dealings, a truth was stated and a very great com- 
pliment was paid him. 

Mr. Estee was a noted sportsman, enjoying greatly a bsbing or bunting 
trip, but these were taken mostly on his own land, his large ranch, consisting 
of eight hundred acres in Clare county near Lake George, known as the 
"Estee Ranch." furnishing plenty of recreation in this direction. He was very 
successful as a business man. being a keen observer, a man of splendid judg- 
ment and foresight and bis scrupulously honest methods won and retained 
the conlidence of all classes. By his own indomitable courage and perse- 
verance be accumulated a large amount of \aluable property and a handsome 
competence. While he was a public-spirited man and always willing to do 
his full share in promoting the general interest of his locality, yet he was 
not an office seeker and held only a few minor ones, for be preferred to de- 
vote most of his time to bis individual affairs. He was interested in the 
Commercial State Bank of Shepherd. He was not a strong partisan, pre- 
ferring to vote for the man whom be deemed best fitted for the office sought, 
rather than for the party. I'raternally he stood high in the Free and Accepted 
Masons of Salt River, being a Master Mason. Like her honored and popular 
husband. Mrs. Estee. a woman of many fine attributes, is a favorite with a 
wide circle of friends, whom she delights to gather at her elegant and neativ 
kept home. 



GEORGE ALBERT TITTS. 

The record of George Albert Pitts, a leading farmer of Isabella town- 
ship, is that of an enterprising gentleman who worthily upholds an honored 
family name and whose life, for many years, has been very intimatelv asso- 
ciated with the material prosperity and moral advancement of the localitv 
where be resides, and. iluring the most progressive periods of the historv of 
this vicinity, be has always been found on the right side of (piestions looking 
to the development of the same, and he has at the same time won an enviable 
re])utation for honesty and wholesome living. 



7l8 ISABELLA COUNTY^ MICHIGAN. 

Mr. Pitts was born in Grandville, Washington county, Xew York, on 
January 12, 1857. He is the son of John and Alary (Wright) Pitts. The 
father was born in Connecticut in 1825 and died in i860, and the mother was 
born in Rutland county, Vermont, in 1819, and she and j\lr. Pitts were mar- 
ried in ^^'ashington county. New York. Their children living are James 
W., of Nottawa township, this county ; John, a soldier in the Union army, 
died at the battle of Resaca, Georgia ; Rosanna, who married R. J. Skinner, 
lives in Gilmore township; Elizabeth, who married Thomas License, li\es in 
Vermont: Amanda married Jerry Fuller and lives in Rutland, A'ermont; 
George, of this review. The parents of these children spent most of their 
lives in the state of New York. They were excellent people and highly 
respected by all who knew them. 

George A. Pitts was nine years of age when he accompanied his parents 
from his native community to Oswego county. New York. He had attended 
school some in the former place and he grew to manhood and finished his 
education in the latter, remaining there until he was twenty-seven years of 
age. The subject's mother was twice married and George A. worked on the 
farm of his step-father. He learned the trade of stone mason and worked 
at that practically all the time while he lived in Oswego county when he was 
not farming, and he was married while living there, choosing as a life part- 
ner the daughter of a good old family, Mary Seymour, who was born Sep- 
tember 6, 1862, at Constantia, Oswego county. New York. She is the 
daughter of George and Harriet (Clock) Seymour and was married to Mr. 
Pitts on May 9, 1879. They lived in their home country five years after 
their marriage, Mr. Pitts working at his trade; he made money and saved it, 
so that when he moved to Isabella county, Michigan, and settled in Gilmore 
township, he was enabled to buy forty acres of goofi land in section 35. ne?.r1y 
ail of which was timbered, of which he cleared five or six acres. He kept the 
place about three years, then sold out and began preaching, going on a tour 
to Gladwin and Midland coimties, remaining away three years and doing a 
great amount of good in this work. His health failing, he finally, in 1896, 
came back to Isabella county and settled on his present place on section 23, 
Gilmore township, buying twenty acres at first, then twenty acres more in 
1900. He has cleared most of this and made all improvements, bringing it 
up to a high standard of efficiency and causing it to rank with the leading 
farms of the community. He first lived in a log house, but this was burned 
on September 5. 1903, losing heavily and having no insurance. He then 
remodeled an old store buildnig and has made a very comfortable home out 
of it. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 719 

The following children ha\e been born to Mr. and Mrs. Pitts: .\ll)erl I'".. 
born in 1887, married Gertriule Teachout and they are living in Gilmore ami 
have one child; Bertha May, born in 1885, married \V. \V. McNeill and 
tliey are living in Gilmore township; John L.. born in 1888, married Bessie 
Robin,son and is living in Centralia, Washington: Blanch B., born in 1890. is 
unmarried and she is enii)loyed in an insurance otifice in Saginaw: Walter C, 
born in 1896, is li\ing at home. 

Mr. Pitts made himself a preacher, ha\ing devoted a great deal nf lujme 
study {o the Bible and such other literature as would be of service to him. Me 
still does a great deal of work as a mason, in fact, he has done more building 
than any other one man in the township, both as a brick and stone ma.son 
and as a carpenter, and his work, always being of a very high grade, is in 
great demand. 

Religiously. ^Ir.. Pitts is a Free Will Baptist, and in politics he is a Re- 
publican. He is at present serving his fourth term as supervisor of Isabella 
township. That he is popidar in this otifice and has done his work well is 
shown by the fact that at the election in tlie spring of 1910 he recei\ed a uuicli 
larger majority than he had ever been given before. 

Mr. Pitts has a house-moving outfit and he does a general contracting 
business. This takes most of his time, so that he fanns but little. He has 
always taken an interest in tow nship afYairs. He has been a member of the 
Grange for five years and is a charter member of the local arbor of Gleaners 
No. 457, at Stony Brook, having been chief of the same two and one-half 
years, and he has also held ofifice in the Grange. 



WILLIAM HUMMELL. 

The United States can boast of no better or more law-abiding class of 
citizens than the great number of (ierman people who have found homes within 
her borders. Though holding dear and sacred the beloved mother country, 
they are none the less devoted to the fair country of their adoption. Among 
this class is William Hummcll, a thrifty farmer of Broomfield township, Isa- 
bella county, who for a nun.^ber of years has been one of the leading citizens 
of the same, having labored bard not only for his own ad\ancement. but also 
for the good of the community, his efforts having been abundantly repaid 
with financial success and the esteem of his fellow men. 

Mr. Hummell was born near Strahleshund, Prussia, Germanv, on De- 



720 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

cember i8. 1855. He is the son of Gustav and Sophia Hummell, the former 
of whom was born in Prussia in 1812. and the latter born there in 181 2, a 
native of the same village as the father of our subject. They came to Ameri- 
ca in the fall of 1869: the father, ha\-ing been blind in one eye, and not phy- 
sically strong, was exempt from the usual military service in his native coun- 
try. He believed he could better his condition by coming to America. He 
settled in Oakland county, Michigan, and worked out by the day on a farm, 
remaining tiiere until the spring of 1873. \vhen he came to Isabella county 
and settled on his present place, consisting of eighty acres. His family con- 
sisted of the following children : Charles is living in Detroit ; Theodore is 
deceased, dying in 1910; Fred li\es in Macomb county, this state; Gustav also 
li\es in that county; ^\'illiam, of this review. The father of these children 
died in 1890 and the mother about 1895. 

William Hummell was fourteen years of age when he accompanied his 
parents to the United States. He had attended school in his native country, 
but he received no schooling here. He was seventeen years of age when he 
came to Isabella county and helped his father clear the place he bought, 
which was heavily wooded. He worked in the woods during the winter and 
had a pretty hard time of it at first. He built a little log house, started with 
practically nothing, and he has, by hard work and persistent effort, accumu- 
lated a very comfortable competency and now has a good farm and a good 
home. His father paid three dollars per acre for this land. The son has 
kept it well impro\'ed and carefully tilled the soil so that it has lost none of 
its original fertility and strength. The father was old when he came to this 
country, so the son lived with his parents during their lifetime and fell heir 
to the farm of eighty acres. He erected in 1903 a comfortable, roomy and 
substantial dwelling, with a cellar under its entire length. He has a good barn, 
under which is a cement basement, and good outbuildings in general. He has 
a splendid apple orchard of two acres and everything about his place indi- 
cates good management and comfort. He has plenty of small fruit and is a 
general farmer and stock raiser. He and his father literally hewed the place 
out of the wilderness and brought it to its present high state of cultivation. 
Mr. Hummell now owns two hundred acres of as fine land as this localitv can 
boast. Some of the place is used for pasturing purposes. He has been suc- 
cessful as a general farmer and has a right to be proud of his place. He has 
been an interested spectator to the county's growth which he has witnessed 
all along the line, from the wilderness to its present thriving condition, and 
he is well known in the community and highly respected. He is a memlier 
of the Lutheran church at ]\It. Pleasant. He was township treasurer for 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 721 

twelve years and supeiiiiteu'leiit for eight years, also justice of the peace for 
line term, tilling the positioui- with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of 
all. I'olitically he is a Repuhlican. 



I 



PETER J. MARTHEY. 

The subject of this review, a prosperous farmer and stock raiser, is an 
Ohio man, born in Holmes county, tiiat stale, in tlie year 1S51. He attended 
school during his hijyhood years in wiiat is known as the "French Settlement" 
and grew to maturity familiar with the active duties of farm life. Reared 
in close touch with the soil and ha\ing early manifested a decided taste for 
agriculture, he naturally selected that vocation for his life work anil e\er 
since attaining his majority has pursued the same with encouraging results. 
Mr. Marthey remained near the place of his birth until 1882, when he dis- 
posed of his interests in Ohio and came to Isabella county, Michigan, and 
bought one hundred and sc\enty-f()ur acres of land in section 19. l)en\cr 
township, nearly all of which was as nature had created it. With character- 
istic industry anfl energy he began improving his land and in due time had 
the greater part cleared and in cultivation, besides erecting good buildings 
and enclosing the farm with substantial fences, .\fter li\ing on his original 
purchase until 1904. he moved to his present place of residence in section 34. 
of the same township, where he (jwns a finely improved farm of seventy- 
seven acres, in addition to which he has eighty acres in l)en\er township, 
the amount of his real estate in the county being at this time three hundred 
and thirty-one acres, the greater part susceptible to cultivation and higliK im 
l)ro\e<l. 

Mr. Marthey is engaged in general farming and. as already indicated. 
his career presents a series of continual successes until he now ranks among 
the most enterjjrising agriculturists of his township and county, being in in- 
dependent circumstances an(' well titted to enjov the man\- material blessings 
b\ wiiich he is surrounded. In connection with tilling the soil, he has achieved 
considerable reputation as a breeder and raiser of hue live stock, making a 
sijecialty of thoroughlired short horned sheep and Belgian horses, for which 
he finds a ready demand at fancy prices. In the matter of improvements, he 
has not been sparing of his means, and believing that home should be made 
beautiful and attractive, he has recentlx- remodeled his dwelling, building a 
large veranda which adds very much to the appearance of the house, t!ie 



722 ISABELLA COUNTY, MirHIGAN. 

entire edifice being modern in its appointments and admirai)iy adapted for 
the purposes wliicli it is intended to subserve. 

In tlie year 1878 Mr. Alarthey was united in marriage with Josephine 
Traliin, the union resulting in the birth of the following children: Edward, a 
student of the State Central Normal School at Mt. Pleasant; Angelia, who 
lives with her parents; Mary, a graduate nurse of St. Mary's Hospital at 
Saginaw ; John, Charles, Elmore and Burnadet, all four of whom are still 
under the parental roof. 

Mr. Marthey votes with the Democratic party and is a man of strong 
con\'ictions and tenacious of his opinions when satisfied that they are cor- 
rectly founded. He ser\'ed four years as supervisor of Denver township and 
pro\ed a very capable and judicious official. He was brought up in the 
Catholic faith and has ever been a loyal son of the mother cliurch, belonging 
at this time to the congregation worshiping in Mt. Pleasant, with which body 
his family are also identified. Public spirited and progressive in his ideas, 
he manifests a commendal)le interest in the advancement of the community 
and as a neighbor and citizen he enjoys to a marked degree the esteem and 
confidence of his fellow men. 



. JOSEPH TEVENS. 

The honorable subject of this .sketch is a successful agriculturist of 
RoUand township and as a citizen enjoys a creditable reputation in that he 
exhibits commendable zeal in promoting the material interests of the com- 
munity and lends his influence to whatever makes for the social and moral 
advancement of his fellow men. Joseph Tevens is a native of Canada, bom 
in Lindsay county, Ontario, on July 18, 1867. Like the majoritv of the 
sturdy people of his province, he was reared to honest toil as well as to habits 
of industry and thrift and on reaching the years of maturity he had his plans 
well matured and his future course definitely defined. 

Mr. Te\ens was about fifteen years of age when he came to Isabella 
county and since 1882 his life has been closely identified with the township 
of Rolland. where he now makes his home. When a }-oung man he began 
railroading, which has been his principal business for a number of years, 
and in connection therewith he is also engaged in agricultural pursuits which 
he has conducted with success and financial profit, owning at this time a fine 
body of land upon which he has erected good buildings and made many other 



ISAliL'I.I.A COUNTS', MICHIGAN. '/2}^ 

substantial improvements. Mr. 1"c\cns" farm, wliicli cmitains one Inimlieil 
and ninety-nine acres, is admiral )ly situated in one of tlie most fa\ore(l agri- 
cultural districts of Jsaheila county and since coming into his possession it lias 
heeu hrnught to a liigli state of cultivation and is nnw the source of a cnm- 
fni-tahlc iiiCdUK-. As a raihuadcr he c'njnycd in a marked degree the cnnli- 
dence nf his superiors in the company by which emploved, and during his 
long period of service pnued a capable workman and was true to e\ery trust 
reposed in him. In the neighborhood where he resides he is greatly esteemed, 
as his character has e\er been above reproach, his integrity uiniuestioned ;uirl 
he strives by all legilimalc means to discharge the duties of citizenship as 
becomes an intelligent memher of the bod\- politic and to show himself worthv 
the coufideuce of his fellow men. Tie has been townshi]) treasurer and school 
directoi-. in both of which positions he discharged his duties with credit to 
himself and to the satisfaction of the public, proving an able and trusted 
official who made every other consideration secondary to the interests of the 
people of his jurisdiction. 

Mr. Tevens has a pleasant home and an interesting family, consi.sting of 
a wife and their children, who, like himself, enjoy the respect and confidence 
of the neighborhood and are highly esteemed by all who know them. Pre\ious 
to her marriage Mrs. Tevens was llattie Jordan and li\ed in .Ml. Pleasant. 
the following being the names of the children she has borne her husband: 
Rose, I'lorence and Clara. 



.\.\ROX D.WTS. 



The subject of this review is a prosperous farmer and belongs to the 
once great, but now rapidly diminishing, army which during the the vears 
our nation was in the throes of the most terrible civil war known to 
history, defeated the hosts of treason, restored the Union and rendered anv 
further attem|)ts at rebellion forever impossible, .\aron Davis, third son 
and fifth child of John R. and I\el)ccca (Cla}-pool) Davis, was born in 
Licking county, Ohio, on the ,^oth day of July, 1844. Ilis father and mother, 
both natives of Licking county, were born in 1809 and 181 i. respectivelv, 
and their marriage, which also took place there, was solenuiized on March 14, 
iS_^o. Their children, in order of birth, were: James, William. F!lizabetli, 
Xancy and .\aron, all except the subject decea.sed. 

.\aron Davis was reared after the manner of most country lails and 
spent the early part of his life at wurk in the fields during the spring and 



724 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

summer months and in the winter time attended the schools of his neighbor- 
hood. He remained at honje until twenty-two years old and then married a 
young lady who was born October 22, 1845, '" the same locality and with 
whom he had been well acquainted since childhood. The ceremony by wliich 
they were made inisband and wife was solemnized on tiie 21st day of October, 
1866, and from that time until his remo\al to Michigan, eight years later, he 
followed agricultural pursuits in his native county and met with fair success 
at his vocation. 

Shortly after the breaking out of the Civil war, Mr. Davis enlisted in 
the Sixth Oliio Volunteers, a regiment composed of sharpsiiooters who were 
selected by reason of their skill as marksmen, each being obliged to pass a 
rigid test before he was accepted. His regiment was attached to the Army of 
the North and saw- much active service during the campaigns in Tennessee, 
Georgia and other states, taking part in some of the bloodiest battles of the 
war, including Chickamauga and Chattanooga, going from the latter place to 
Atlanta and becoming a part of the force under General Sherman. After the 
reduction of that stronghold. Mr. Davis did not take part in the celebrated 
"march to the sea." but went with his regiment to Nashville to help check the 
Confederate force under Hood wliicli suffered a crushing defeat at that 
place by General Tiiomas. When Lee surrendered, Mr. Davis was at East- 
port, Mississippi. Later he took part in the review at Nashville and at the 
close of the war was present at the funeral of President Lincoln. Receiving 
his discharge at Camp Chase, Ohio, at tlie expiration of his term of ser\ ice, 
he returned home, where he was married in due time, as already stated, and 
where he continued to reside until 1874, when he came to Isabella county, 
Michigan, and rented one hundred acres of land a half mile south of Dush- 
\ille, where he li\ed until his removal to his present farm in Fremont town- 
ship the following year. 

Mr. Da\-is purchased forty acres in the above township and at once 
began improving the same. In due time all of the timber was removed and 
the soil reduced to tillage and at intervals good buildings were erected and 
the farm put in splendid condition. He now has a beautiful and attractive 
dwelling equipped with many of the comforts and conveniences which 
lighten the housewife's duty and make rural life desirable, also a substantial 
barn and the necessary outbuildings, together with good fences, a successful 
system of drainage and various other improvements which add materially to 
the appearance and value of the farm. 

Mr. Davis is a member of Cedar Ridge Lodge No. 540, Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has held the offices of chaplain, vice- 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 725 

grand and \ icf-suppuiicr. and alsd belongs to the Grange, in which lie has 
long been an active and inHnential worker. He. is a Deindcrat in pulilics and 
as such has been zealous in ])romoting the success <if his partv, tiiough not 
an office seeker nor aspirant for any kiml of public preferment. He served 
twelve years as justice of the i)cacc. imwever. and proved very capable in 
the discharge of his duties: much important business was brought to his court 
during his term of office, and such were the impartial nature of his rulings 
and the justne.ss of his decisions that few if any appeals were taken from the 
latter to higher tribunals. 

Mr. and .Mrs. Davis are the i)arents of seven children, whose names are 
as follows; Robert married b'lora Hctherington and lives in I-'rcmont town- 
ship; Ola, wife of Ed. Bellinger, lives in Lincoln township; I.vdia. who mar- 
ried L. Ilcthcriiigton. moNcd to .Mexico some years ago, where her deatii 
subsequently occurred; Sniiih, whose wife was formerlv Clara (lerrv, is a 
farmer of Fremont townshi]); James, who is unmarried, lives at home and 
helps cultivate the farm; Mary, now Mrs. Clinton Root, lives at Hope. 
Idaho, and Olive, the youngest of the number, is deceased. 



JOSEPH CLARE. 



Success has been honorably attained by the well-known farmer and stock 
raiser whose name introduces this sketch, a gentleman of high character and 
sterling worth whom to know is to esteem and honor, foseph C'lare is a 
native of Erie county, Xew York, and a son of Frank and Sophia ( Rame) 
Clare, both bom in the county of Eric, the father in iS_:;8. the mother in the 
year 1841. I'lank Clare moved his family to Lsabella county. Michigan, in 
1879, and settled in lsal)ella township, purchasing one hundred and twenty 
acres of land in section 26, all but about two acres unimpnncd. I'.v well 
directed labor, he soon cleared and reduced to cultivation tlie greater part of 
his land, besides making man\- substantial improvements and in due time 
forged to the front as a successful tiller of the soil and enterprising citizen. 
A Democrat in politics, he wielded a strong influence for the party and, a 
Roman Catholic in religion, his daily life was consistent with his Christian 
faith. He died on the 1 ith da\' of .August, 1896, being sur\i\e(l ])\- his wife, 
who has since lived with her son. the subject of this sketch. 

Joseph Clare was bom in 1869 and when ten years of age was brought 
to Isabella county. Michigai', since which time his life has been closely inter- 



726 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

\vo\en with the interests of the township in which he resides. He was reared 
to haliits of industry and as soon as his services could be utiHzed. was put to 
wori\ in the woods and fields, where he soon developed strong- physical pow- 
ers, being alole to do a man's part at all kinds of farm labiir when but a \nuth 
in years. Like a dutiful son, he remained at home, working for his parents 
and looking after their interests until his thirty-first year when he bought his 
present farm of eighty acres in section 26, Isabella township, near the family 
homestead, wliich he has since greatly improved and brought to a high state 
of tillage. .\11 but twenty acres of his land is in cultivation and his improve- 
ments, which are among the best in the township, include a fine barn erected 
in 1892, and remodeled in the year 1909, a commodious dwelling with a full 
ciim])lement of modern con\'eniences, three hundred rods of wire fencing, 
one hundred and si.xty rods of drain tile, to say nothing of the excellent con- 
dition to which the soil has been reduced and the many attractive features of 
the home and surroundings. 

Mr. Clare is essentialh- a progressive man and as such ranks among the 
most enterprising farmers of his township and county. In addition to tilling 
the soil, in which his success has long been demonstrated, he devotes con- 
siderable attention to li\e stock, making a specialty of fine cattle, although his 
horses and hogs are also of high grades and give e\idence of the care be- 
stowed upon them. In his political allegiance he is strongly Democratic and, 
like his father before him, wields a potent influence for his ])arty in the 
township (if his residence, thriugh not an office seeker nor aspirant for anv 
kind of public distinction. He too was reared under the influence of the 
Roman Catholic church and has ever remained true to the principles and 
teachings of the same, being one of the leading members of the church at 
Mt. Pleasant an<l a liberal contriljutor to its support. His name also adorns 
the records of the Catholic Mutual Benefit .\ssociation, an organization 
under the auspices of the church. 

Mr. Clare was united in the h(il\ bonds of weillnck when thirty-four 
years of age with Catherine Gallaher. who has borne him two children. 
Mary J- and Joe E. 



LYMAN F. MEAD. 



The gentleman under whose name this sketch is written is a native of 
New York, born on September 11, 1845. \\ hen ten years old be moved with 
his parents to Ionia county, Michigan, where he helped clear and impro\e a 



ISABELLA COCNTV. MICHIGAN. 727 

farm on which he continued to reside for a period of twenty-four years, dur- 
ing tlie early part of which time he attended the pubhc schools and otherwise 
fitted Iiiniself for the duties and responsibilities of life as a tiller of the soil. 
In the year 1879 he chose a wife and helpmeet in the person of Catherine 
Long, of Ohio, and about the same time mo\ed to Clinton county. Michigan, 
where he engaged in the pursuit of agriculture and where he made his home 
until his remoxal in i88g to Isabella county. 

On coming to this countv Mr. Mead bought forty acres of land in sec- 
tion 17, Xottawa township, which lie at once proceeded to improve and to 
which he subsequently added from time to time until his realty now amounts 
to one hundred and twenty acres, si.xty of w hich are in cultivation. When he 
moved to his original purchase there was no road to the land and he was 
obliged to cut one through the woods for a considerable distance in order to 
reach the site of his future home. The land being quite hea\ily timbered 
with a dense undergrowth among the trees, a great deal of hard work was 
required to get the soil in condition for tillage, but, being strong, energetic and 
in the enjoyment of almost perfect health, he labored early and late, cheered 
by the prospect of success that would ultimately attend his efforts. In the 
course of a few years he had a goodly part of his place in cultivation- and 
from that time to the present his advancement has been steady anil certain 
and it is not presumptuous to claim for him at the present day a conspicuous 
place among the leading farmers and representative citizens of the townshi[) 
in which he lives. 

In the year 1902 Mr. Mead added greatly to tiie appearance and value 
of his farm by erecting a model barn in size forty by sixty feet with a com- 
modious stone basement and six years later the present dwelling, an im])osing 
two-story edifice, containing eleven rooms, was built and furnished with a 
full com])leiuent of comforts and conveniences. Mr. Mead takes great pleas- 
ure in his home and has not been sparing of his means in beautifying and 
making it attractive. In connection with general farming he pays consider- 
able attention to fruit raising and at this time he has an acre in apples, pears 
and cherries which he selected with the greatest care and from which he 
receives no small ])art o* his yearly earnings. Being a ])ractical horticul- 
turist and satisfied that fruit is a more remunerative crop than the ordinary 
products of the farm, he proposes to enlarge his orchard ere long and go into 
the business upon a more extensive scale. Mr. Mead is a Democrat in 
politics and, with his wife and family, belongs to the Catholic clunch at Beal 
Citv. Mrs. Mead has been her husband's faitliful and efficient colaborer 



728 ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 

ever since assuming his name and to her assistance and co-operation not a 
Httle of his success is due. She has borne him three children, namely : 
George, who lives at home and helps cultivate the farm; Mary married Pierce 
Summers and lives in Nottawa township; Thomas, who married Mary Lay, 
lives on the home jjlace. and James, whose wife was formerly Marie Lauben- 
thal, resides on the familv homestead also. 



TOHX A. HARRIS. 



Among the enterprising and public-spirited citizens of Mt. Pleasant, none 
has been granted a greater meed of respect and admiration than the gentleman 
whose name a])pears at the head of this sketch. For many years actively and 
successfully engaged in commercial enterprises of importance, he was an 
efficient and widely recogni/ed factor in the growth and advancement of the 
business interests of the community, in which he has never lost interest, though 
now practically retired from active participation therein. 

John A. Harris was born in London, England, September 23, 1842. His 
father was William Harris, born in Cornwall. England, who came of an 
ancient Cornish family. PJis mother, Sarah (Heath) Harris, was born in 
London, England, descended from a Scotch familv. William Harris was a 
produce merchant in London, and emigrated to the United States in 1852, 
bringing his wife and family, consisting of five children. He died in New 
York city in 1854. 

In August, 1862, John A. Harris enlisted in the Union army and joined 
Company F, Twenty-first Michigan Infantry, August 8th that year. The 
regiment formed part of the Army of the Cumberland. Mr. Harris was dis- 
charged from service of the army July 5, 1865. He then returned to the 
family farm in Montcalm county, where he remained engaged in farming and 
lumbering until 1872, when he came to Mount Pleasant, where he has since 
resided. On coming to Mount Pleasant, Mr. Harris and his brother William, 
who came with him, built the Mount Pleasant flouring mills, which have al- 
ways been and are now operated by the Harris family. Mr. Harris continued 
active in the flour milling business until about four years ago, when he retired 
from business. 



ISABELLA COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 729 

Mr. Harris has alway.-^ taken a keen interest in the affairs affecting the 
progress of tlie city, but has not been a seeker of office. He served as one of 
the trustees of the \illage ijoard for several years, one term as president of the 
village, and since Mount Pleasant has grown to be a city he has served a term 
as alderman. He has always taken great interest in Grand Army affairs, and 
was the first commander of the local post, Wabuno No. 250, an honor which 
his comrades conferred on liim for several years afterwards. Mr. Harris has 
taken an interest in the educational affairs of the city and served on the school 
board for some years. 

.Mr. Harris has been twice married. On May 31, 1872, he married Cath- 
erine Holmden, at Greenville, Montcalm county. She was a native of Michi- 
gan, born in Grand Rapids, the daughter of George and Hester Holmden. 
Seven children were born c.f that marriage: Cassius A., born August 12, 
1873, has lived in Xew York city for several years; Hester Lottie, torn July 9, 
1875, ''^'^s '" Mount Pleasant, the wife of J. F. McXutt; Edward Owen, born 
August 15, 1877, lives in Mount Pleasant; John Glenn, born February 28, 
1882, died November 16, 1887; Ralph Garbutt, born January 2-j. 1884, lives 
in Mount Pleasant; Elizabeth B., born August 21, 1889, is a teacher in llie 
schools in Pontiac; Sate, born November 20, 1890, lives at home. Mrs. Cath- 
erine (Holmden) Harris died October 25, 1894, and on December 6, 1897, 
Mr. Harris married Helen F. Rogers. Her father was Jacob Ferris, descended 
from an old family of New York. He was captain of Company D, Twenty- 
first Michigan, the regiment in which Mr. Harris served. After the war he 
was an attorney in Grand Rapids for several years. 



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